Bridging of the Minds
by The Nth Degree
Summary: [TNG crossover] The Delta Quadrant: one lone Federation Starship tries desperately to get home. The Alpha Quadrant: A flagship takes a slight deep space deteur to do some exploring. Their worlds collide and two quadrants become one
1. Prologue: From Different Ends

Author's Note: This is a first attempt at a crossover fic between Voyager and TNG. Another, you know, what if, scenario I've always wondered about. I should note a few things. This can be classified as an alternate timeline or whatever, because there's a few things different:

- The episodes Basics 1 & 2 never happened, because it sets up for some very interesting things in the future )

- Because of the time, Voyager 5 years in the Delta Quadrant, this should take place about midway between First Contact and Insurrection.

Anyways, hope you enjoy it.

Bethany

**Prologue – From Different Ends**

The two starships drifted in a nebula, both debilitated. The smaller one got the brunt of it, a half destroyed hull, ability to go to warp speed, or any speed at all, disabled, shields down. The other sleeker starship had a small amount of hull damage, and some of its systems were failing. A slim nacelle of the latter ship was stuck into an adjacent part of the smaller ship. The smaller Starship, called Voyager, was in a panic, while the larger Starship, the Enterprise-E, was wondering what was going on.

"Report," the captain, Kathryn Janeway called in the bridge of Voyager. The noise of a red alert was adding to the confusion and panic that the entire ship was feeling.

"We have successfully made it back to the Alpha Quadrant," a man sitting in front of her, one Lieutenant Tom Paris – the "flyboy" always at the navigation controls, commented, looking at his panel. His tone was happy, amidst all the chaos of the ship.

"We can celebrate later," Kathryn replied, looking around. "Mr Kim, where in the Alpha Quadrant are we?"

Harry Kim stammered, pressing his fingers on his control panel. "We're in a Type 5 nebula, captain. Our sensors are offline. We did crash into another Federation ship though."

Janeway's looks visibly eased. "Which ship?"

"From what we can see of it through the nebula gas, I do not recognize it," Tuvok, the Vulcan security chief said stiffly, his emotionless voice showing his suppressed emotions.

"It's been five years, of course we may not recognize it. It does look a lot like a Galaxy class ship, though."

There was a pause in the voices on the bridge; everyone was trying to think. Janeway's mind was focused on the near past. Back in the Delta Quadrant - where they were taken to, 70,000 light years away from Earth in the Alpha Quadrant, they had spent five years trying to get home, meeting new species, and uncovering more than their fair share of Borg – they had found a wormhole. Nobody got excited; too many times they had found a wormhole, only to be disappointed where it wouldn't go where they needed it to go. But they really didn't have time to scan the wormhole; they were involved in a firefight with a Kazon ship.

"_We need to get away! They're disabling our shields!" Chakotay, her first officer, had yelled over the noise on the bridge._

"_How can they know our shield frequencies? Seska's been dead for years!"_

"_They don't," a third voice, B'Elanna Torres, the half Klingon Engineer Chief came over a commlink, "They just took out our generators!"_

"_Captain," Seven of Nine, a former Borg of the Collective chimed in, her voice strangely neutral, "There is a wormhole on short range sensors."_

_The Kazon had begun to fire, the ship rocking with every impact from the Kazon weapons. Although technologically inferior, it was almost like they were bypassing Voyager's shields and directly slicing into their hull._

"_A wormhole?" Janeway yelled, gritting her teeth, "This may be our only hope, Chakotay – alter our course! We need to get through it!"_

"_But we don't know where it goes!"_

"_ANYWHERE'S better than here!"_

_Voyager began to hurtle forward at an even faster speed. The wormhole looked like a small tear in the fabric of space, and that's it. Everybody inside the ship instinctively grasped onto anything with their life – it would get a bit rocky._

_Voyager slammed into the wormhole, disappearing from known time and space. The Kazon ship stopped in its tracks, hovering around the wormhole, not risking the hull integrity of the ship by following them._

_Chakotay had tensed, looking out the viewscreen as thousands of light-years were flying past the ship in a matter of milliseconds. The deflectors on the ship were still working, and the hull was still intact he saw as he glanced down at a computer readout._

"_Sensors are offline," Chakotay and Kim chorused together, fear more prominent in Kim's voice._

"_Let's ride it out…" Janeway had said, rather calmly._

_Emerging from the wormhole, Voyager flew into a nebula. The gas shrouded the entire ship, lost in its memory. Janeway rose calmly, looking at the nebula. The ship was still flying at an impulse speed, at least until they could get out of the nebula and ascertain where they were._

"_We need to know where we are," Janeway said pointedly, switching her attention to Tuvok._

"_Apparently, 'here', captain," Tuvok replied, twisting his head, "But where 'here' is, we do not know."_

_Everybody was ejected from their seats as something scraped against the metal of the ship. Sparks flew forth from wall panels and the ship shook uncontrollably._

"_What's that!" more than one person echoed each other, trying to stand up amidst the ship's condition._

"_We just crashed into something! Major hull damage and probable failure on decks 8, 12 and 14!" Kim had roared, trying to compute all of the data given to him._

"Captain?"

Janeway blinked before turning her head to Chakotay with a sheepish grin. "Sorry, got lost in my thoughts.

Captain Jean-Luc Picard was pacing around the bridge of the Enterprise-E. They had decided to explore a nebula before heading on their way to a territorial dispute between two Federation races. Unfortunately, when they started exploring the nebula, their expedition was cut short by something crashing into them. Picard always mused of how the crew of his ship had become politicians rather than explorers. He turned his shiny head around to view his first officer – William Riker, who was over at the engineering controls with chief engineer Geordi LaForge.

"None whatsoever?" he heard Riker mumble, sharing a "look" with LaForge.

"None," Geordi replied with a sigh, blinking his ocular implants. He pressed a couple of buttons on the panel, watching the text scrolling on the screen. He was blind since birth, and the implants for his eyes allowed him to see many different spectrums of light. "It'll be a while before we get any back."

Picard walked up to the pair, "Get what back, Mr LaForge?"

Geordi addressed the captain with a nod, "Any movement power whatsoever. _Whoever_ it was that we crashed into took out our starboard nacelle and destabilized impulse drive."

"That still remains the question of _who_," Picard said, a hint of frustration hiding in his voice.

"We may never find that out," Riker replied.

The Turbolift opened, and Deanna Troi stepped out. She looked out the viewscreen, before setting a direct path to Jean-Luc.

"Captain," she began, a hint of an accent in her voice, "The ship that crashed into us is in danger."

"How do you know?" Picard said, diverting his gaze out to the edge of the broken ship seen in the viewscreen. He noticed that she wavered, and he reached out and touched her neck. "Counsellor, This could be an alien ship…"

"I can sense them, captain. Their fear, their chaos, and yet, happiness. There are mostly humans on the ship…two Vulcans, and two Betazoids. I cannot clearly make out the rest of them. But even in their predicament, they are extremely happy."

"Extremely happy?" he probed, looking into her deep eyes. She, herself, was a Betazoid, a telepathic and empathic species. "How can they be happy? Seems they are disabled just as badly as we were! I wouldn't be happy if that were us. I'm _not_ happy that it's us." He mumbled, shaking his head.

"I…I don't know, captain," Deanna admitted, looking thoughtful. There was a lull on the bridge,

"I believe I know who crashed into us," a monotone came from the front of the ship. Everybody at the back of the bridge turned around and regarded the silver skinned, golden-eyed android – Lieutenant Commander Data.

Picard nodded, "Go ahead, Mr Data."

"I believe it is a Intrepid class ship, serial number NCC-74656, according to design and fabrication." He said, precisely.

"An Intrepid class…? There were only four made…three of them have been decommissioned. The other one…it was lost."

Riker turned around slowly, "Voyager…what the hell is it doing here!"

Worf, the only full blooded Klingon in the Federation shook his head, "It can't be Voyager," he rumbled, "Voyager was declared officially lost over 3 years ago!"

"That may be true, Mr Worf," Picard said, putting his hand on his chin thoughtfully, "but Voyager and her crew just disappeared – into thin air. Who knows where they could have been?"

"Who knows if they're _alive_?" Worf argued heatedly. "If we try to beam over to that ship, there could be aliens that could destroy us!"

Picard only smirked, "Mostly humans and a few Vulcans and Betazoids, as far as we know. If there were aliens trying to destroy us, they would have done with the rest of the crew already."

"We won't have to beam over anyways," Geordi said, looking stunned.

Picard shifted his attention back to Geordi, who was still pressing commands into the engineering panel with his fingers. Geordi looked pointedly at Worf, who looked down at his tactical station in reply. He brought his bigger hands to the panel, before looking up to Picard and nodding. "They are hailing us."

Picard exhaled slowly, straightening his uniform top in what was commonly known on the Enterprise as The Picard Manoeuvre. He walked down the slope and sat in the captain's chair, Riker taking his place to the left of him, and Deanna to the right of him.

On Voyager, Janeway was getting impatient. Maybe their comm. Systems were down, or maybe it was a Federation ship taken over by an alien force, like what had happened once before when the Doctor got transferred to a ship taken over by Romulans.

"Any response on the other side, Mr Kim?"

"Affirmative, they have received the hail," Kim paused, before looking up, black hair flowing by his eyes, "And they are responding."

"On screen," Picard said, breathing deeply, on the bridge of the Enterprise.

The viewscreens on both of the ships began flickering, and both captains saw one another. Janeway regarded Picard with a look of relief on her face, Picard to Janeway with a look of severe astonishment.


	2. Chapter 1: Old Friends

Author's Note: Yes, I know. Unbelievable? Don't care. That's what make fics rock This is definately one that starts out slow, however the slowness is hilarity. It'll get better soon.

**Chapter 1 – Old Friends**

"Jean-Luc Picard," Janeway said, her eyes beginning to flash happily.

"Kathryn Janeway," he replied, his gaze softening from the stony look he mostly adopted. "How…"

"I'd love to stay and chat like this, but…"

_Warp core breech in 20 seconds_, Voyager's computer chimed. Janeway twisted her head back to the bridge. Picard's eyes widened.

"B'Elanna," she called, "Eject the warp core. We have no possible way of stopping the breech with this amount of time."

"Working on it, Captain!" B'Elanna called back over the comm. Link.

"Jean-Luc," Janeway began again, turning her attention back to her viewscreen. "We need to talk. We've been having problems ever since we got here. Some homecoming, eh?"

Jean-Luc shook his head with a hint of a smile tugging the sides of his lips, "Indeed, Kathryn. Order your crew to come aboard. I have a feeling that we won't be using Voyager for much longer."

Janeway's face split into an earnest smile. "Got it, Captain Picard. Janeway out."

Janeway materialized on the Enterprise's transporter site with Chakotay and Tuvok. She stepped down and gave a look of wonder. Acknowledging the transporter chief, she walked towards the walls, looking at the improved LCARS system integrated throughout the ship.

"So this is how technology has improved in five years…"

"It's magnificent, isn't it?"

She turned her attention to Picard, Riker and Worf, who were walking into the transporter room. Jean-Luc had made the remark, smiling. He stuck out his hand, and Janeway readily accepted it, returning the smile. Riker eyed Chakotay warmly, but his eyes wandered to the symbol of the Maquis he wore on his neck, and his face went sombre.

"You're a Maquis?" Riker asked Chakotay, coldly.

Chakotay was about to respond angrily, his eyes dulling, but Janeway waved him off, softly. "We don't have that distinction anymore, commander. When we got trapped in the Delta Quadrant, a Maquis ship got trapped with us."

"Our ship was destroyed," Chakotay added, "Captain Janeway let all of us come aboard and we, to steal a phrase from the Borg, were assimilated into her crew. We don't think of ourselves as different factions. We've all came past our differences. And I hope the rest of the Federation will, too."

Riker flushed, looking embarrassed, and nodded, looking at the floor. Worf said nothing, but eyed everyone suspiciously. Picard put his hand out, and ushered the three crewmembers from Voyager to precede him. They did so, and he quickly fell into step beside them.

"A lot has changed in the five years you've been gone. The Dominion Wars are finally over, all the Maquis," he added, throwing a look at Chakotay, "Who went back and fought for the Federation during said wars, are now absolved of all charges. Seems you qualify," he mused, nodding at Chakotay, who smiled and smartly nodded back.

They turned a corridor of the Enterprise, passing various crewmembers that gave them strange looks. Janeway's muscles tensed, being around unfamiliar people. "Is everyone off of Voyager?"

Jean-Luc nodded in reply, "Yes. Although," he stopped, and looked at Janeway troublingly, "Two Borg drones were wearing Starfleet uniforms. They're now on their way to containment." He regarded Janeway's reactions, and immediately kicked himself.

"Janeway to Seven of Nine; Icheb!"

"Seven here," Seven replied angrily, "We are being detained!" she added, for good measure.

"I know. And you have my orders to delay going into their custody. I completely forgot about the reaction of everyone else. Where's Icheb?"

"Right here, captain. He is too stunned to speak."

"Belay that order," Picard snapped, looking at Janeway, "These two could be dangerous to the crew!"

"They haven't been for 1 and a half years," Janeway hissed at Picard, "We severed them from the collective, Seven first, a year and a half ago, Icheb and three other Borg children---"

"Children!" Picard said, eyes confused.

"Children deemed to weak by the Collective – they were on their own. Three of the children left Voyager when we were in the Delta Quadrant." she paused, turning around to face Chakotay, who's face was also masked in one of slight anger at the treatment of the ex-Borg.

"We knew the Borg _grew_ their own drones, but they assimilate children?" Picard said, continuing to walk on.

Tuvok nodded, "We learnt that Seven of Nine was assimilated when she was a 6 year old girl by the name of Annika Hansen."

"Hansen…" Picard paused, reaching back into his memory, "Her parents…they were scientists. I remember their story; the rumours. They were two of the leading researchers on the Borg. They were assimilated over ten years before we first encountered them."

Janeway nodded, eyes downcast. "I've heard that story too. But Seven and Icheb…they are no harm to anyone! We would have been _dead_ if they were!"

"The Captain does make a valuable point," Tuvok rang from the back, his face still a serene sight.

Picard sighed and nodded, sharing a gaze with Riker who's face reflected his thoughts – he had heard about Borg having individual thought, but Borg actually getting rid of their implants and taking stations on a starship?

"Seven," Janeway said quietly, looking at everyone around her with dangerous eyes, "Take Icheb to his quarters. We'll beam your regeneration units to them for you."

"Thank you, captain," Seven's short reply – although Janeway thought she sounded a bit more relieved.

"I'll explain everything, don't worry Jean-Luc. Tuvok, can you find all the other members of the crew? And make sure the EMH is off Voyager." Tuvok nodded, and reversed, going back down the hall they came up.

Worf sighed, "How is that possible? No EMH can exist outside of sickbay or the Holodeck!"

"You'll see we're full of surprises, Lieutenant Worf."

Worf's face became extremely downcast, and that allowed everyone else to smile.

"Indeed," Picard said, nodding. "We need to have a major talk. It's good to have you back, Kathryn."

"Thank you, Jean-Luc. And I assume that you still have your coffee?" she asked, almost teasingly. She looked at Picard's reaction, and began to laugh, leaning her arm on his.

Picard smiled and looked at all the crewmen in the hall sharing whispers, "I think it would be advisable if we move to my ready room."

"Agreed," Tuvok, Riker and Janeway all chimed together, all sharing looks.

"And that's the story," Janeway surmised, grasping her mug of coffee, glancing at the fish tank that Picard had in his ready room. "Being in the Delta Quadrant for five years, well, let's just say I haven't told you all of it."

"Are there any other special cases of yours?" Picard asked sombrely, clasping his hands together. He glanced at Riker, who shared a look with him. Both Tuvok and Worf were just standing at the door.

"Other than Seven and Icheb, you mean?" Janeway asked. She saw Picard grin, and she sighed, "Well, there's a Talaxian who needs no care whatsoever – he's Neelix. And of course there's The Doctor, you know, since I told you about how our CMO got killed."

"Of course," Picard said gently.

"I'm told your EMH has a mobile holographic emitter?" Riker asked flatly.

Janeway took a sip of her coffee, nodding, "Yes, a time ship came from the 29th century to destroy us, we ended up going back to the 20th century. The Doctor was kidnapped by someone who had stolen the time ship, and he was given a 29th century mobile emitter; he can exist anywhere as long as his program is inside it."

"Fascinating," Riker said, his eyes sparkling. "You guys got all the fun stuff. The Caretakers, the Vidiian, the Hirogen, more Borg than you can shake a stick at!"

"We also have, well," she shifted uncomfortably, moving towards the window. Picard leaned forward, only imagining what else there could be. "His name is Lon Suder."

"He's a Betazoid and a former Maquis," Troi came into the room, looking concerned. She nodded as she regarded Tuvok. She flicked her brown hair over her shoulder. "He murdered someone two years back, and ever since, he's been going through treatments with Tuvok for violent impulses."

"How do you know more about him than I do?" Picard asked, amused.

"He was reaching out," she said, quietly. "He was just thinking to himself, but I heard it. It was really strange, I didn't know who he was. He has a large amount of violent impulses, but he's learning how to control it with the help of Tuvok."

"Alright," Picard stated. "Since we're both…stuck, right now, I think we should get our crews to fix this as soon as possible, and take off towards the closest starbase."

"Where's that?" Chakotay asked, blinking slowly, "I mean, you speak as if it's months away."

"It is," Worf said, glancing at him, and then at the captain. "Three and a half months away from Deep Space 6."

"We were on a deep space mission when we decided to explore this nebula," Picard added with a grin, "Seems we found more than we thought."

"Oh it's good to be back." Janeway stated. Chakotay and Tuvok murmured their concordance. She turned around and looked at Picard, before smiling wide. "What do we have to do?"


	3. Chapter 2: Understanding Each Other

Author's Note: Thanks for the kind words so far I dunno what else to say other than this is where it gets interesting. This begins the interactions between the Voyager and Enterprise crews - some logical (ie the 2 chief engineers, doctors etc) and some for fun (like the Barclay/Suder thing I hint at here -hehehe). And on that note, I should probably say that I know Barclay should be working on the Pathfinder project but well, he's not. Best explaination I can give. Heh.**  
**

**Chapter 2 – Understanding Each Other**

Doctor Beverly Crusher was just looking through crew records from Voyager. She ran a hand through her amber hair as she read all the information. She leaned back in her chair, and looked at the man sitting on an examination table. Sickbay was a busy place, today. There was everyone from Voyager that Captain Picard wanted her to check over – over thirty different people have been in, plus the normal suspects.

Reginald Barclay was on the table right now, wringing his hands together, looking worried, as usual. Behind him, there was another man, laying down with his hands put together. She noted that it looked like a Vulcan form of meditation, but this man wasn't a Vulcan. Barclay looked agitated, she thought.

"Reg, everything ok?" she called out, already fearing the answer.

"Ev…everything? Oh! Yeah! Sure!" Barclay answered, stuttering as per usual.

Dr Crusher sighed, "Is this something that Deanna can help you with?"

"Uhhh, nope. I mean, yes. No. No, definitely not." He replied, wringing his hands even more violently.

"You should stop stammering," a quiet voice came from Lon Suder behind him, his eyes still closed. "Some might take that for a sign of weakness…of paranoia."

Barclay looked horrified. He looked behind him at the prone figure of Suder lying there, and shakily hopped off the table. "I…I, I'll come back later."

Dr Crusher shook her head, looking a little bit amused. She traced the path of Reg, who quickly scurried out of sickbay. She then regarded Suder, an eyebrow raised. He looked so serene, just laying there. She brushed a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear, picking up a PADD with his information on it.

"Mr Suder, your records are fine. I assume," she paused uncomfortably, shifting her weight, "that you will be continuing your regiment with Tuvok?"

"Yes, doctor."

"And you will be directed here under any abnormal situation?"

"Yes, doctor."

She raised her eyebrow even further. It was like a mechanical chorus. He almost didn't seem to understand what he was saying. She sighed, loudly. It was like nobody paid attention to her anymore. "Alright, Suder. There's an escort here to take you to your quarters."

He nodded curtly, swinging his feet towards the ground. He only opened his eyes for the briefest of moments, and that moment made Beverly shudder. His eyes were dark and lifeless. She turned away with effort, and didn't exhale until she heard the door whisper shut behind him. When she ventured a glance towards where he exited, she was greeted by a curious looking face of someone vaguely familiar.

"You're…"

"The Emergency Medical Hologram!" he beamed, stepping towards her. "Although," he paused, adopting a look of deep concentration, "I've been thinking of the name Blanic…an Ocampan name…what do you think?"

"Who activated you!" Dr Crusher cried, looking around wildly. "Computer, deactivate the EMH!"

The computer beeped out it's confusion (_The EMH Program is not online)_ but nothing happened. Beverly paused, staring at the still solid man in front of her, his look of concentration evaporated, replaced with one of a cold blank stare. He frowned, staring at her.

"You cannot deactivate me, Doctor. After all, I'm a doctor! Not a lightbulb!" he said, his subroutines fuming. "I will have you know I was the CMO onboard Voyager! I served five years, and they regard me as a member of their crew! I won't let that be compromised here! I was programmed by 46 _better_ doctors than yourself, so I would not be talking!"

Beverly stopped in plain shock. She held a finger up, but then curled it and put her arm back to her normal position, her mouth, for once, leaving her speechless. The Doctor turned on his heels, and automatically went to inspect the equipment, his mind trying to create a figure of how many more times he would have to go through that exact reaction from other crewmembers.

---

"So this is a Sovereign class?" B'Elanna asked, admiring the warp core from her position leaning on one of the safety rails.

"Sovereign, yep." Geordi replied, sharing her gaze at the monstrosity of the warp core, pulsating in all of its dilithium glory. He saw it in a different light; in different spectrums. He only smiled as B'Elanna looked at the improvements. "How did the Intrepid treat you?"

B'Elanna gave him a side look, before smiling. "She was _my_ ship. I could manouever around engineering with my eyes closed, and my hands tied. I knew where everything was, I could do anything. I don't know what I'm going to do without her," she remarked, sadly.

Geordi's smile widened, "I feel that way about this here ship, and I did before on the Galaxy class Enterprise." He shrugged, offering his gaze at other places. It began to move towards a panel on the wall, showing the status of the sensors – offline. "It seems your hull cracked our external hull sensor," he said with a mock tone of anger. "We have lots of work to do it."

"But, hey, we have two amazing engineers working on this, plus all of Voyager's crew. Maquis or not, we're a hell of a crew," B'Elanna replied, grinning as she began to press buttons on another panel. "It may be a new ship, but the controls are the same to me."

"Just…don't blow her up, okay?"

She shot a glare, almost rivalling her captain's at Geordi, who raised his arms sheepishly and began to chuckle. She pushed the final sequence of the buttons that she needed to, and the computer beeped in response. Geordi came walking over, looking at the panel, somberly.

"We won't have to worry about Voyager anymore." She said, proudly.

Geordi nodded, blinking his ocular implants. "Reversing the polarity on the hull – it separated the ships. Nice thinking, Torres. I'll admit, I was a bit worried when I heard that we had to coordinate on our repair efforts. But, now that I see it…"

"You shouldn't have worried, Lieutenant – we know how to take care of ourselves. Torres to Janeway."

Over the open commlink, Janeway's voice appeared more light-hearted than in recent events, "Janeway here. What's the status of the Enterprise?"

"Well, Voyager's not stuck in it anymore."

"B'Elanna, you should know – Voyager's never been stuck anywhere. It wasn't _stuck_ now, it was just…docked."

If not for the chuckle in her voice at the end of her statement, and B'Elanna's joined laughter, Geordi would have thought she was serious. He couldn't help but crack a grin, himself.

---

"Keep on it, B'Elanna. You too, Mr LaForge," Janeway called from the turbolift. It was all a bit too insane for her mind to handle: being chased by a Kazon warship, jumping through a random wormhole, and coming out in the Alpha Quadrant, managing to stick itself in the flagship of Starfleet – the Enterprise-E. She knew it was surreal, but she wouldn't change it for anything in the world.

The turbolift stopped when it got to the bridge, and Kathryn stepped out lightly, looking around the unfamiliar setting. She could only frown at the sight of another person sitting in a captain's chair. She was so accustomed to seeing herself or Chakotay in the chair that she had to shake her head and remind herself that she was…home.

She walked up to Picard's ready room, and the door slid open without hesitation. She stepped in, looking almost apprehensive at Picard, who was looking over some padds.

"Captain, B'Elanna contacted me a few moments ago," she smiled as Picard looked up - his interest peaked. "They've gotten Voyager…unattached from the nacelle."

"Hmm? Seems our two Chief Engineers are worth every ounce of pride we put in them," Picard said, his eyes sparkling. "They have already…detangled our ships, and they seem well on their way to getting everything back up."

"Oh, two crews will defiantly go faster than one. I just hope…" she frowned, looking at Picard who wondered what brought this change of emotion on.

"You just hope what, Kathryn?" he inquired, leaning forward at his desk, noticing the change in her posture.

"The Doctor, Seven of Nine and Icheb, the Maquis, I know that your senior staff will be accepting, but," she paused, choosing her words carefully, "I just hope that the rest of the crew will…be the same way."

"I understand your…"

"Crusher to Picard," Beverly's voice chimed through his commbadge. He raised a hand apologetically as he answered her.

"Why didn't you inform me that the CMO on Voyager was the EMH?" she questioned, her voice seemingly more angry than it had to be. Picard raised his eyebrow as he looked at Janeway, who was muttering under her breath. Jean-Luc sighed.

"It completely slipped my mind, Dr Crusher. I hope that this is not creating a problem for you?" he prompted, his voice becoming it's normal steely tone.

"No, it just…surprised me, that's all. And I think I offended him," she added, hesitantly.

"Great move," Janeway mumbled under her breath, shaking her head. "You may as well have called Lieutenant Worf a Vulcan pacifist. His wrath would be easier to endure…"

Picard stifled a smile. "I'm being advised that…it was not such a good move." He shook his head, also noting the surreal experience. "Try to make peace with him. He's not just an ordinary EMH. He's acquired many different pieces of data from Delta Quadrant cultures, and according to Captain Janeway, he's also quite an opera singer."

"Opera?" Beverly asked wearily. "I will, captain, but I can make no promises. Crusher out."


	4. Chapter 3: Alone in the Quadrant

Author's Note: First, I'd like to thank you all for the kind words. Second, firebirdgirl reminded me of something that I completely forgot about – the disclaimer. It completely slipped my mind although I have them on my other fics. So thank you, firebirdgirl, I'll do it now :)

I'm not Paramount nor do I own Star Trek & its respective characters/inanimate objects. I just like using them for my ficcing fix. No money is coming my way for any of this, so Paramount doesn't have to worry.

This continues the crew interactions, as most of the story will. I think the chapter name really reflects the content (although when I wrote the final half of this, I had forgotten the title, and yet, it still works out better than I imagined).

PS: I found out how to use the line feature. Aren't you all proud of me? Yay!

**Chapter 3 – Alone in the Quadrant**

Riker stood in the turbolift with his arms crossed. He had quite a day, and to be perfectly honest, he was tired. The integration of Voyager's crew among the Enterprise – it was a sight to be seen. And the stories from the Delta Quadrant were a sound to be heard. He could but vaguely imagine what had really happened to that crew.

The turbolift stopped silently, and Riker narrowed his eyes at the disturbance. The doors flew open with a sound, and Chakotay – Janeway's first officer – walked in with an apologetic nod.

"Going to the bridge?" Riker asked, keeping his tone light.

"Nope. Actually, I'm going to see the Captain."

"Which one?" Riker chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

"Janeway. She told me that she'd meet me in…what do you call it? Ten Forward, I think?" Chakotay shrugged, looking at the top of the turbolift. "We would have preferred our mess hall, but you take what you can choose."

"Aw man, do I know that." Riker agreed, nodding as the computer resumed the turbolift. Silence fell in the turbolift, and the awkwardness seemed to make the walls close in. "So." Riker said abruptly, cutting the silence, "Did you ever let Captain Janeway go on away missions?"

Chakotay was startled at the seemingly randomness of the question. He paused in his response, only to think of the answer he wanted to give. "Yes…but…"

"Computer, halt turbolift!"

Riker turned on him, his eyes full of surprise, his voice the home of steel and edging on malice. "What!"

Chakotay looked a defiant eye at the larger Riker, and nodded. "I had images of a phaser at my throat if I didn't!"

"A first officer should _never_ let their captain go on away missions! Not without…"

"An armed guard," Chakotay finished his sentence, monotone seeping into his voice. Riker was seething, amazed that a first officer would even dare let his superior officer step onto unknown planets! "I know! And she was almost always with myself, Tuvok and other capable members of the crew!"

"_Almost_ always?" Riker roared – the absurdity!

"She can handle herself!" Chakotay yelled back in response, his own patience being tested. "She would have thrown me in the brig if I had said she couldn't! SHE ALMOST DID ON ONE OCCASION!"

Riker stopped, breathing heavily, his presence outweighing Chakotay. His eyes were blazing and were matching Chakotay's eyes glare for glare.

And then he began to laugh.

"Computer, resume Turbolift," Riker choked through his laughter. "Now _that's_ the Kathryn I remember!"

* * *

"Come on, Harry. You _gotta_ help me!" Tom Paris whined as he stuck his head in his hands, poking the back of his skull with his fingertips. Harry Kim only looked at him apologetically from the couch he was sitting at in their shared quarters. It was a little bit tight on the Enterprise for the Voyager crew, so they all volunteered to bunk with one another. 

"I'm sorry Tom, I can't. I'm just as bored as you!"

"I can't believe B'Elanna's doing all that she can in engineering and I'm sitting here," he moaned, leaning against the wall dejectedly. "I can't fly the ship, everyone on this ship still thinks of me as a Federation traitor, I don't know _what_ to do!"

Harry stood up, adjusting his auzure and black jumpsuit as he just shrugged. "There's nothing we can do right now, Tom. We're just…floating in a nebula. It's hardly fighting the Borg that we're doing. We're," he paused, frowning, "Just gonna have to accept the fact that we're not needed right now."

"I was so happy to get home. You know, to start anew. But it's like we're in the Delta Quadrant again – 3 months from the nearest Starbase…and this time, this isn't our ship!"

He sighed heavily as he rubbed his eyes. He was so depressed, and Harry could tell that. Hell, he even felt awkward on the flagship of the Federation, in the presence of such legendary figures. Harry sighed too as he stood, crossing his arms. Silence droned on as the nebula gases swirled past the windows, almost mocking them.

"Wait a minute."

"What?" Harry asked at Tom's sudden interest in anything.

"I know what we can do!"

Harry frowned in thought, "Annoy The Doc?"

Paris laughed as his grin became wider, "I don't know why this didn't come to me sooner. Sometimes, I think I'm a sleeping genius!"

"Woah," Harry replied, putting his hands up as if to fend Tom away, "You were serious? You want to annoy the Doc?"

"No! I do, however, have another ingenious idea. I think it's time that the planet Earth received some saving from an evil doctor!"

Before Harry knew what was going on, Paris had sprung into action, grabbing him by the arm and nearly marching him out into the corridor. People all around looked at Paris strangely, and Harry couldn't even give them an apologetic look, because he was doing the same thing.

* * *

"You are Borg," it was more of a statement then a question. 

"Yes, I am Borg."

"Fascinating."

"I suppose."

Seven looked up irritably from an astrometric scan of the area that she was studying in the stellar cartography level. It wasn't the same as being in the cargo bay on Voyager – she was around more people; people who didn't know her. It scared her more than she liked to admit. She knew that she was once human, but that was no longer. She didn't belong with humans anymore.

She was Borg.

However, she found it curious that someone who didn't inhabit Voyager approached her to…talk. She realized he wasn't a human, and frowned when she couldn't find his species with the collective knowledge she had. She was, for once, at a loss.

"How does it feel – to be Borg?"

She sniffed as she looked back at her scan, "I have the collective knowledge of over 3000 different species, enhanced sight, hearing, and strength. And yet, I don't _feel_ anything of how it is to be Borg."

Data cocked his head, trying to comprehend the information she was telling him, his yellow eyes glowing with the small computations. "So, you mean that you had the previous problem that I did?"

"And that is?" she asked sharply, once again looking up from her scans, thoroughly annoyed.

"You cannot feel."

Seven snorted in response, "I _can_ feel." She shook her head before looking back down at the scans.

Data furrowed his brow for multiple reasons. He was, for the first time in his existence, feeling confused, and, he was quite sure that Seven of Nine had just contradicted herself. He opened his mouth to speak, but wisely thought it would be better to stay silent. "I had a nice time talking to you, Seven of Nine. I wish we can resume our conversation later?"

"Of course," Seven muttered, her voice laced with ire. Maybe the…android…would prove an interesting conversation partner, but she had to consult The Doctor on this. She was vaguely aware of footsteps and the door to stellar cartography opening and closing. She sighed as she once again began to sift through the data as if nothing had just happened.

* * *

Neelix swung his hands from front to back, almost eagerly as he stepped towards the large brown doors. He was wondering what _it_ was like. Taking a deep breath, he stepped in, and was mildly surprised. It was larger than the mess hall, but it didn't have the same feel. No burners for cooking or no storages of vegetables. He frowned as looked around and reminisced. 

"Welcome to Ten Forward," a gentle voice said, peering at him from behind the bar.

"Oh, yes, hello." Neelix responded with a slight bob of his head.

The woman eyed him for a second, and then smiled, "You're one of the Voyager crew."

Neelix's eyes widened as he sat down at the bar. "How did you know?"

She waved a robed hand and gestured around the abnormally quiet Ten Forward. Neelix frowned again, noting the quiet of the room – another difference from Voyager's mess hall. Unless there was a red alert, at least someone would be working or talking in the room, at its peak, voices meshed together in a seamless uprorar of chaos. Neelix abruptly looked out the window as he wondered where _that_ metaphor came from.

"I tend the bar here in Ten Forward. My name's Guinan," she leaned on the bar, looking at Neelix with her deep eyes.

"I did a couple of things on Voyager. I was Ambassador to the Delta Quadrant's multiple species, I was the Morale Officer, and like you, I tended and cooked in our mess hall. I'm Neelix."

"I don't recognize your species…you are indigenous to the Delta Quadrant?"

Neelix nodded and spread his fingers on the tabletop, "Yep. I'm a Talaxian."

"Must be strange," she shook her head softly, the smile still on her face, "being alone here, in the Alpha Quadrant…"

Neelix let out a laugh and shook his head in response. He then sighed and looked out the window at the nebula…one of his only fears. He always felt that the nebula gas was going to choke him if it ever got into the ship. "Well, on the bright side, you'll never find anyone like me around here."

Guinan pushed herself off of the bar, her deep purple robes and hat complimenting her dark skin tone, "But on the contrary, Neelix, I think you have." With a final smile, she turned away and began to do her daily routine. Neelix watched when realization dawned on him.

He wasn't alone.

* * *

"Making a Vulcan as a security chief was…" Worf paused in his deep rumbling to stare at the Vulcan, "_most illogical._" 

"Be that as it may," Tuvok did in his normal "shoot-back" tone, which oddly matched his normal tone, "I have been in the security detail for most likely, longer than you have been born."

Worf eyed the Vulcan with something he could not place. It wasn't hate, nor was it acceptance…it was most likely respect. "I'm quite sure about that fact myself. But you lack the raw…_emotion_ needed to be a security chief!"

"On the contrary," Tuvok replied, raising an eyebrow, "My control over my emotions makes my decisions clearer and less irrational."

Worf sighed, punching more buttons on the console on the bridge, "You must have had quite a time, defending yourself from hostile species."

Tuvok considered this, and finally nodded, "Yes. It was not easy, especially while trying to find a tactical advantage. Most situations did not have any."

"From the data you brought aboard, you have a lot of new information on the Borg," Worf changed the subject, his voice getting more ragged as it usually did when he began to talk about the Borg.

"Thanks to Seven of Nine and Captain Janeway."

"A Borg drone as a member of your crew," Worf muttered under his breath, "I don't know how you can stand the dishonour of that damn species. They sneak attack and then the hide. Cowards. They don't die with honour; in a last attempt in death, they self destruct. I cannot _believe…_"

"Mr Worf," Tuvok's voice was not light; his eyebrow was higher than it usually ever got. "There is no denying that the Borg are…dishonourable," he tested the word out, "but Seven of Nine has been attempting to reclaim her humanity. There is no dishonour in that."

"I suppose," Worf rumbled again, his ridged forehead seeming more heavy than usual. It was going to be a real feat working with the Vulcan, although he knew that now, he definitely respected him.


	5. Chapter 4: Back in Motion

Author's Note: An update. Yes, I know, it's well overdue. I ended up working on Chapter 5 before chapter 4 so that's why it took so long. And I know it was rude of me not to update, I just hope that I don't come across Dr Lecter (I'm sorry, I've been watching all of the Hannibal movies for the past couple weeks. Heh…I need help).

Anyways, I couldn't think of a good name for this chapter, so I decided to go with simplicity. This one was the hardest to write too, cause this reminds me of where I decided to place this in the series, so it's kinda hard to initiate EMH/Barclay since, well, they've only met in Projections (2x03).

Also, there's a Barclay line ("Ah! Where's Dr Crusher when you need her?") which I took straight from Star Trek Elite Force II. If you're doing the multiplayer mode against bots and Barclay gets shot he says that. :-)

Anyways, thanks for staying with me for this period of pause – I'm back. I'm close to finishing chapter 5 so expect that in the next couple of days!

-Bethany

**Chapter 4 – Back in Motion**

Reginald Barclay shuffled down the corridor, sharing looks with passer-by crewmembers from both the Enterprise _and_ Voyager. In a way, he felt awed. They had found a way home on their own, even though there were people like him working on the Pathfinder project. He was asked, specifically by Picard to come on this mission, and he was pleased. But with the stationary position in the nebula, he was beginning to fray around the edges. Ah hell, he mused to himself, shakily, I'm always frayed around the edges.

He turned abruptly and walked into sickbay, which was, to his delight, empty. He slowly stepped forward, bringing his hands together, as he often did.

"Beverly?" he called out, his eyes darting from side to side. He saw nobody in any area, except for another member of the doctorial staff standing by the hyposprays.

"Ah! Where's Dr. Crusher when you need her?" he asked out loud, although it was meant to be an inner thought. He began to pace, looking at the floor, and then at the ceiling, waiting for Dr Crusher to return from – well, wherever she was.

The Doctor froze from his work of examining the Enterprise's medical supplies. The voice…he had heard that voice before. It was a voice he would never forget. That voice! Reginald Barclay! He narrowed his eyes in remembrance; the memories surging back to him.

The only sounds in sickbay for the fraction of a minute were Reg's boots as they stepped his ever so steady rhythm around the sickbay. His brown eyes flashed as he thought of all of the new infections he could have gotten from the Voyager crew…

The Doctor cleared his throat, in hoping to get the slightest amount of the lieutenant's attention. He frowned as his pacing went unaltered. His eyes narrowed further and his frown deepened as he tried to concentrate on the work he was _supposed_ to be doing.

Tap, tap, tap.

"Would you _please_ stop pacing?" the EMH cried in exasperation, turning around to face the all-too familiar shape of Barclay. "You're disturbing my work!"

Reg immediately stopped, looking upwards. He raised his arm and pointed at the EMH. He tried to form words, but he couldn't…Beverly had never used an EMH before! Voyager…but the EMH? He shifted his head to the side, expecting to see Dr Crusher standing there, or…something, to explain this.

"Save it!" The Doctor growled, turning back to his work, "And besides, I don't have to speak to you…you tried to destroy me!"

"B-but…I don'tknow you!" he paused as he noted the inaccuracy of his statement, "Well, I mean I _know_ you, but I don't _know_ you! I helped program you!"

The Doc sniffed before turning an eye to Barclay, "You were a part of a feedback loop inside one of my subroutines that was triggered when Voyager went through a plasma storm. You tried to convince me that I was a Dr Lewis Zimmerman! And you tried to get me to destroy a simulation, which in effect, was _myself_!"

Reg was stunned, and his look clearly conveyed that, "But…but," he stammered, clearly trying to form a comprehensible sentence, "I wasn't there!"

That was it for the Doctor. He dropped his hypospray and began to storm up to Reg, glaring at him "But you were! I know you were just a part of me, but I still can't forget it!"

"I…I'm sorry?"

Reg put his hands up to try and explain, but the whisper of the door caught his attention first. He turned, hiding the two pips on his collar to look. The Doctor also temporarily changed his fuming attentive subroutines from his stuttering…friend to look at Dr Crusher who had come in the door and paused mid stride.

"I'm…not interrupting anything, am I?"

"Not at all," The Doctor replied, nodding his head before heading back over to the hyposprays, muttering. He didn't witness the shared looks between Barclay and the other doctor. Nor did he see Barclay turn around and leave the sickbay more confused than ever.

"Umm…Emer…"

The Doctor rose a hand, "Just call me…The Doctor." He raised his eyebrow, still perplexed by his lack of a name.

"Doctor," Beverly paused, walking up beside him, "I…apologize for my previous actions."

The Doctor sighed, turning towards her, "I should be the one apologizing," his eyes flashing with a hint of remorse, "I shouldn't have acted the way I did."

Beverly held up a hand, blushing profusely, "No, I just…wasn't expecting it. I've never had to use an EMH before and, well…"

Tapping his fingers on the hypospray rack, the EMH gave her a long and hard stare, before raising his arms and shrugging, "The first rule of the Hippocratic oath. Do no harm."

Beverly paused before brushing a strand of her auburn hair behind her ear, "We both broke that…does that make us bad physicians?" she grinned slyly at the Doctor's mortified look.

"We are _not_ bad physicians! We only…slipped up," he finished, shrugging once again. "Who we are – our flesh and blood," he paused, raising his eyebrow, "or photons and forcefields," adding in his almost spiteful voice, "is defined by what we do, and the mistakes we made."

"Indeed," Beverly nodded finally, "Forgiven?"

The EMH nodded before turning back around to continue the inspection of the Enterprise's equipment, "Forgiven," he mumbled, picking up a new hypospray.

Dr Crusher put on a smile, as she began to wring her hands together in front of her, "So…Captain Picard heard from Captain Janeway that…you sing a good opera."

Doc paused as he raised his head a little bit. He laid the small medical device down as he straightened up.

His face split into the first genuine smile since early in the morning.

* * *

"You can't tell me that they're not distressed, captain!"

Deanna looked pleadingly at Picard, who was sitting at his normal spot in the ready room with a cup of Earl Grey. His face was stoic, as usual, but he seemed preoccupied.

"Captain!"

Picard finally brought his eyes to her, and smiled sheepishly, "I'm sorry counsellor, I'm just thinking on how long it's going to take us before we can get moving. And how the two crews are going to interact for almost the next four months."

Deanna threw her arms into the air with exasperation fuelling them, "That's what I've been trying to ask you for the _past_ 20 minutes, captain!" she cried, finally collapsing on one of the ready room's couches. Her demeanour immediately switched and she then looked at Jean-Luc with a look of amusement hidden in her smile.

"You better start thinking of a solution."

"Yes, I know," he answered irritably, "that's what I've been thinking of."

"They were so unceremoniously thrown from the Delta Quadrant to here, it has to be setting some strain on them, especially people relatively native to the Delta Quadrant, like Seven of Nine and Neelix."

Picard turned his head to the side to look out the window, "I suppose you're right, Deanna." He sighed, "We just don't have the time for everyone to go to counselling schedules. We need to get this ship up and running,"

"I know!" she protested, leaning back against the soft cushioned back of the couch, "and I think I have Reg in counselling all week," she muttered as an afterthought, "but that's beside the point. I think we need to made it be known that anyone who thinks that they need some help to get by this shock – they do have somewhere to go."

"Agreed," Picard said strongly, taking another sip of his tea. He stood up and adjusted his uniform before giving a grateful smile at the counsellor. "I suppose we'll need to have a shipwide announcement…I'll tell Kathryn, she knows where her people are."

The counsellor merely raised an eyebrow as she smoothed out the back fabric around her thighs. "Captain, there's something else I want to speak to you about…"

"And that is?" he inquired.

"Lon Suder…"

"What about him?"

"Well, I just…I know he's working with Tuvok to control his violence, but I wonder if I would be able to be an asset?"

Picard raised his own eyebrows as he looked at one of his most trusted people – the one that had probably been with him for the longest. "An asset, counsellor?"

Deanna nodded slowly, trying, herself, to comprehend what she was trying to do, "Give him counselling. He needs it almost as much as Reg does," she mused amicably, "but in a more desperate way," she added almost hastily.

Picard only nodded, truly wondering what Deanna was thinking. "I'm not sure that would be…wise," he surmised, looking at her with his scrutinizing eyes. He slowly walked up to the window and looked out if with an unidentified feeling buried in the pit of his stomach. He sighed. "But if you really want to, it can be arranged. _BUT_ you must have an armed guard with you. We don't know what he's capable of."

Deanna shook her head softly, a wistful smile etched on her face, "Thank you, captain. I think that this could help him." She watched as Jean-Luc nodded, obviously preoccupied. "So…you're on a first name basis with…_Kathryn_?"

Picard's eyes widened as he quickly turned himself to the counsellor who only began to laugh. He frowned with an amusement visible in his eyes.

* * *

"What about now?"

"Nope, nothing."

Geordi grumbled as he kept hunting and pecking on the controls over by the warp core. He shared a "look" with B'Elanna as they tried to get the core to start up again. "What about _now_?"

B'Elanna grunted in reply; no words were needed. Geordi swore, something he didn't do that often. He stood up and stretched. "We've been at this forever. There has to be something we haven't tried yet."

"Tell me about it," B'Elanna replied wearily, moving to another console and beginning to try and enforce the containment field. "Vorik," she asked, shooting a glance at the Vulcan at the anti-matter flow station, "Can you help me here?"

"Of course, Lieutenant," he replied stoically as he strode over to where B'Elanna was hunched over.

The engineering section was in absolute organized chaos. People were yelling back and forth, others running from one station to another, and the dull roar of all the machinery and diagnostic equipment adding to the buzzing of the voices.

"I need you to enhance this while I begin to change the matter and anti-matter flow. Maybe this'll get the core the jumpstart it needs."

Geordi grimaced, "That won't work. We need to leak some coolant into the core and then use the anti-matter to relight it!"

Torres stood up, her faint brow ridges beginning to crease with confusion, "That wouldn't work!" she cried, staring at the optical eyes of the Enterprise's chief engineer.

Vorik raised his own eyebrow, "Lieutenant Commander LaForge has a point, B'Elanna. That is, in theory, all we would have to do to get the core operational."

"Vulcan logic," she growled, shaking her head, "Sometimes it won't work. I've tried it on a couple occasions, and it's never been successful!"

Geordi turned back to his console, smiling grimly, "Have some faith of the heart, B'Elanna. I know the Federation style warp core like the back of my hand. I even know it _better_ in some instances. In this case, since it was only the damaged nacelle that led to the power disruption, this _will_ work."

"I bet you a replicator ration it doesn't," she shot back, the only hint of joking in the smile on her face.

"Replicator ration, eh? Sure." Geordi paused mid keystroke and looked up, his face contorted into a look of confusion. "Replicator rations?" He turned around to face B'Elanna, who was hard to work with Vorik once again.

Resuming his keystroke, he couldn't truly decipher what it meant to be stuck in a place like the Delta Quadrant. After a couple more adjustments to the LCARS interface, he looked up at the very subdued colour of the core, "That should do it. Let's get this warp core started!"

Vorik pushed a button on his console to reinforce the outside containment field at the same time that Geordi released some coolant into the center of the core and B'Elanna ignited it with the anti-matter flow. The reaction began to cascade in the core, and the dull blue lighted in a blaze of white light and immediately began to pulse a vibrant cyanic blue. Most of the engineering squad began to cheer.

Vorik put his hands behind his back and nodded towards Torres and LaForge, and then walked away to begin to monitor an unmanned station. Geordi gave a half smirk and crossed his arms, looking at B'Elanna, who raised her hands.

"Fine, fine, I was wrong. Don't gloat!" she stuck a finger out at Geordi and grinned. Two engineers and one warp core…one of them had to be right.

* * *

Kathryn was pacing in her quarters that she shared with Samantha Wildman and little Naomi. Samantha was actually taking Naomi to see Neelix and so she was alone for the moment being. She didn't belong on the bridge at the moment. She felt, actually, quite useless. All she could do was pace.

"Torres to Janeway," B'Elanna's voice rung over a comm. Channel.

Thank _god_, Janeway thought to herself as she tapped her stylized A with two fingers, "Janeway here…what's happening?"

"We got the warp core back!" She announced proudly. Janeway grinned widely.

"Does Captain Picard know?"

"Geordi is informing him now."

Nothing could evaporate Kathryn's good mood now, "Thank you, B'Elanna. That's good to hear!"

With the comm. Channel closed, Janeway sighed before sitting down on the chair close to her. She was thrilled, of course, but what would ever happen to Voyager? It would just be out there. Stranded. Dead. She shivered even though the temperature was quite comfortable. She picked up some of her padds and looked at the crew reports that she still had to go over. She rubbed her eyes with her free hand and quietly examined the rest of the room.

"Picard to Janeway" Jean-Luc's voice came ringing just like B'Elanna's just did.

"Janeway here – you heard what happened?"

"Yes," Picard's tone was light hearted; "we have to announce this to the other crews. Senior staffs on the bridge, and a ship wide announcement for the rest of them."

"I'll call Voyager's staff to the bridge as soon as I can…do you really think that they did it?"

"Our crews are resourceful – I _know_ they did it."

"Of course, Janeway out." She paused as she reinitiated another comm. Channel, "Janeway to all Voyager senior staff. Report to the bridge immediately."

* * *

"And so our warp core is now functioning at, apparently, peak efficiency…" Picard started, looking at the two crews on the bridge. Everyone was standing at attention, looking happier as a whole. "Mr LaForge, initiate the core!"

"Aye, captain."

The bridge hummed wit ha silent electricity as Geordi and B'Elanna carried a conversation in hushed whispers, the sound of pushed buttons intervening every so often.

Suddenly, Tom Paris, who was standing over the helm, almost squeaked in glee. "We have warp power!"

Immediately the bridge erupted into cheers. Janeway and Picard shared a glance, while B'Elanna and Geordi shook hands; signifying a job well done. Neelix smiled at Seven who looked amused by the whole proceedings. Deanna grinned, feeling the happiness oozing from the minds of the others. Even the EMH and Dr Crusher were smiling broadly.

"Time for celebration! Hey Doc – what about an opera performance?"

The Doctor nodded towards Harry, his ego stroked, "Perhaps later, Mr Kim. You know, I do have an Aria from a well known Mozart piece that I have been working on…"

Immediately Dr Crusher frowned – opera…and loads of it, from what she could tell. Picard noticed her look and smiled at her, winking for emphasis.

"Doctor, do you know any Berlios?" and he frowned as the EMH shook his head. Picard shrugged, "Tonight calls for a celebration, as soon as we get a piece of business finished. Ensign," he said, nodding towards the red-shirted ensign at the helm, "you have the bridge. Senior staffs to the briefing room."


	6. Chapter 5: On a Star Beyond the Chart

Author's notes: Sorry for the length. It is a bit long. Heh. And also, the title (On a Star Beyond the Chart) is actually a lyric from a song called _My Music At Work_ by The Tragically Hip. Just kinda...worked here. The rest of the notes are for once, at the end…

**Chapter 5 – On a Star Beyond the Chart…**

Picard looked sternly at the senior officers of both crews. The briefing room was unusually jammed, with a mixture of Voyager and Enterprise crews sitting at the table, the rest standing at the back, waiting for the information to start flowing. He noted that Seven of Nine stood by herself in the corner, as if perplexed by this turn of events. He mentally shook himself and swept his eyes across the room.

"Well, thanks to the superb work of our Chief Engineers and their crews," he said, looking towards Geordi and B'Elanna who were sitting next to each other, "We now have our warp capabilities back. Which means we're now ready to depart towards the closest Starbase."

The slightest of noises came from Paris at the back of the room, who finally realized that they would leave Voyager behind. He frowned and bowed his head.

"Before we can depart, I think it would be a good idea for us to download the contents of Voyager's computer."

Kathryn nodded slowly, gazing at the rest of her crew, meeting almost everyone's eyes. If there was only one thing she could be sure of, it was the sadness of just leaving Voyager stranded in deep space reflected in everyone's eyes.

Picard paused, pushing himself closer to the desk, his hands outstretched on the table. "However, there's a problem. During Voyager's…malfunctions, the main computer core was shut off. We need someone to beam over there, get it back online and then begin the connection that will initiate the download."

"I'll go," Paris said quickly from the back of the room, not wishing to bring anymore attention to himself. He hardly noticed that B'Elanna had said the exact same thing at the same time. Everybody else had noticed it, and was shifting their gaze from one of them to the other.

"You two will go? I wanted to go," Harry contemplated, frowning at the revelation.

"So did I," Neelix chimed in, cheerily.

One by one, the entire senior crew of Voyager expressed wishes to return to the ship. Picard gazed at his own senior officers, a bit perplexed by the situation. He turned his head to look outside the window, watching the nebula gases swirl, and opened his mouth to say that all of them weren't needed.

Deanna, aware of what he was doing, broke the silence, "Captain…remember the Enterprise-D? We didn't get to…_download its computer_." She hinted strongly, her brown eyes flashing with a certain amount of knowledge.

Picard closed his mouth and smiled. "Very well. Since all of you want to go to download its computer, I suggest you hurry on up. Three and a half months isn't getting any closer. We must be underway. Dismissed."

Kathryn gave a sad smile to Chakotay as they both rose from the table. He returned it, wondering the same thing that she was wondering – how _could_ they say goodbye to their ship?

Deanna looked at the Voyager pair, and smiled as she realized what they were thinking without even having to read their minds or emotions. It was written all over their faces – all over the faces of all of Voyager's senior staff. She watched as Tom, B'Elanna and Harry separated from the rest of the group filing out of the room and carried a conversation in whispered tones.

"Captain Janeway," she said quietly, walking up to Kathryn, who looked back at her with a curious look on her face, "You're letting everyone say goodbye."

"Of course," Kathryn nodded, putting her hand on Deanna's arm and beginning to walk to the exit of the briefing room, "It was the only link we had to home. We deserve to at least say goodbye."

"Voyager senior staff – let's get to transporter room 3," Chakotay called, attempting to round up the milling Voyager members.

He shared smiles with the crew as they all filed into the turbolift from the bridge. He caught a fleeting nod from Riker and returned it, realizing the truth of the matter – they were returning home.

Silence filled the turbolift as it descended. The crammed officers didn't dare to break the silence, each of them caught up in their thoughts. B'Elanna and engineering, Neelix and the mess hall, Janeway and the bridge. They all knew that it held something special for everyone, and so they let each other reminisce.

* * *

The corridor of Voyager outside of the transporter room was dark and it seemed far from the starship that they had grown to love as their own home. Everybody stood in a circle, most looking down at the shininess of their boots, only for an escape of the harsh reality that was thrust upon them.

"I think we all need to do what we need to do. But it can't take too long. We'll meet in the messhall at 2200 – we have 45 minutes. I'll go up to the bridge to restart the computer."

"I'll go with you," Chakotay added quickly, looking at Kathryn to find mutual support in her eyes.

"Let's do this. We'll send her off right."

All but Seven mumbled their affirmations as they began to split apart. B'Elanna, Neelix, Tom and Harry headed in the opposite way than Janeway, Chakotay, Seven, Tuvok and the Doctor. And then the corridor of Voyager outside the transporter room was empty – just like nothing had just happened.

* * *

Seven quietly pulled away from the group as she reached the area she wanted to. Neutrally, she quietly stepped towards the thick and heavy interlocking doors of the cargo bay. They slid open with a heavy grinding and let her inside. It was empty, something she was not used to seeing. All the containers, the storage and the alcoves that had been in…her home, had disappeared and left her with nothing but the Borg panel on the wall right next to her own chamber used to be. Her eyes widened as she walked over to there, her blonde hair shimmering in the lacklustre light.

She noticed where her alcove was basically ripped out of the wall. Wires were still sparking. She frowned. She would have to regenerate that night. It would be odd, to say the least, to be regenerating in quarters – which she didn't want in the first place – that she didn't know.

The Alpha Quadrant, home to most of the people aboard Voyager. The Ocampa named Kes was gone, which left Neelix and herself. She may have been born and raised in the Alpha Quadrant, but she only knew her home.

"Attachment is irrelevant," she snorted with a look of contempt on her face.

Seven looked around the abandoned cargo bay, and immediately noticed a padd on the floor. It was remarkably out of place. She walked over to kneel down and pick it up. She pressed a few buttons and her eyes fluttered over the content. It was a copy of some of Ancient Earth's literature by someone named 'Dante'. The Doctor had given it to her after examining her cortical node one afternoon. He said it was highly…stimulating. She had never gotten around to reading it.

_I made my own home be my gallows_, she read, and with a scowl, flung it back to the ground, straightening up. Her blue eyes sparkled as she took a long hard look at the book of unknown words on the floor. Finally she walked towards it again and picked it up, clutching it in her hand encased by a Borg exoskeleton, almost lovingly.

"Attachment is…not irrelevant," she muttered as she finally turned on her heels and left the cargo bay.

* * *

The stars provided only a faint luminescent light from the windows, pattering a bunch of pinpricks of light on the ground However, another light flickered, almost controlled from in front of one of the windows.

It was a flame from a small candle. It was twisting, turning and burning in the oxygen of the room. It paid no heed to the fact that it would be left there for – most likely, all eternity. All it did was light a path. A small gesture, for it would always be lit.

The dark figure of Tuvok stood, half in shadows, behind it, looking at the candle intently. His face was still emotionless, although certain thoughts were stirring in his head. He had lit the candle only when he needed to, but it held a certain significance to him. His features flickered in and out of the light, his stone-like features only reflecting the light.

He was silent for the longest time, as if almost enchanted by the candle's flickering requiem. Then he slowly lowered his head as he crossed his arms behind his back.

"For you, I leave a path open to _our_ home. May you eventually use it. Live long, and prosper."

* * *

"Daddy's gonna miss you, you know that?" Tom purred. "I don't know what I'm going to do without you! I'm sorry, but I can't do anything about it – no matter what happens, I'll always love you. I tried to convince Uncle Picard to let me take you with us, but he wouldn't allow it.

"He said that the Enterprise already had too many shuttles."

Tom spread his arms out wide and leaned forward, supported by the dash of the Delta Flyer. He tried to hug it the best he could, leaning his head on the console, closing his eyes and sighing. The Delta Flyer – his first true love. There'd never be another ship like her; that was for certain. Nothing had the thrusters tweaked just so, nothing had the controls respond so smoothly. Nothing was crafted as lovingly as she was.

"I'll miss you," he kept repeating over and over, trying to make the message sink into the bulkheads forever more.

"Aw, I know you will Tom, but we'll keep writing, right?"

Tom immediately jerked up as he was shaken by the words. He turned out of the cockpit and looked behind him – B'Elanna and Harry were standing behind him with amused looks on their faces.

"Oh shut up, eavesdropping is so uncool!" Paris exclaimed, standing up, his cheeks turning a deeper shade of red than even Dr Crusher's hair.

"Uncool? Oh. Right. 20th Century." B'Elanna responded, nodding slowly. "I know that you love her, but sometimes, you just have to let them be."

"But…" Paris protested, taking a step closer to the other two.

"Maquis has a point, Tom," Harry piped in. "If you really want to see them excel – you have to let them go!"

"Ha-a-rry," he droned out as he usually did while patronizing, "I'm not letting her go. She's being _taken_ from me!"

"So is my warp core!"

"And _my _astrometrics lab!" Harry pouted.

"I went to engineering to say goodbye, and Harry went to the holodeck," B'Elanna cut in, "…Sandrine's is running. Want one last game of pool? All or nothing – all of our replicator rations are on the line."

Paris slickly moved his head, "Only if you want to lose my dearest B'Elanna."

"You know, I created that astrometrics lab," Harry kept pouting. "It's more advanced than all of the stellar cartography designs on other ships and yet it's being left here."

"Aha! I knew that you felt love for an inanimate object!"

"Is that wrong?"

Paris grinned as he slid between the two friends, "No, but Tuvok would say, in his own subdued Vulcan way, that we're being sentimental morons."

B'Elanna stifled her laughter through a snort, and then the group all erupted into laughter.

* * *

"Home."

"I suppose it would be."

Kathryn shared a soft look with Chakotay and then turned back to the bridge. Most of the times that she had come from the turbolift, there had been a problem and it was rushed. Now she could really take the time that she needed to look at the bridge. _Her_ bridge. She stepped forward, placing a hand on the security station which looked odd without someone in a yellow shouldered uniform standing behind it. She smiled as she turned and went to the engineering station behind operations – where Harry used to stand.

"We came a long way, Chakotay."

Chakotay couldn't help but grin, "Thinking of Harry, eh?"

"All of us. Maquis, Starfleet, Seven…we did it." Janeway looked up from the console at her first officer, her hair shrouding her vision. She brushed it away from her eye, but it swept back right where it first was. She sighed in exasperation and turned back to her work.

Chakotay walked up to her and put a hand on her shoulder, "You're not as happy as you're supposed to be."

Her fingers paused and began to twitch. She wanted to finish the work but she couldn't. "What did you just say?" she asked quietly, not bothering to look at him.

"I know that you've wanted, and tried to get home. And yet, some part of you is wishing that you could still be stranded."

She sighed. "If we were still stranded, we wouldn't have to leave Voyager. I don't know about you, Chakotay, but she became more of a home to me than Earth at points."

"Kathryn ---"

She waved a hand from the console as she retreated from her hunched position to stand up straight. "It's done. The main computer core is back online," she said stiffly – she was in full captain mode once again. Chakotay frowned as he took his hand off of her shoulder to look up at the darkened bridge. It was only yesterday that Paris was trying to tell a joke and Tuvok had actually rolled his eyes. And that, of course, caused more laughter than the actual punchline. And now, dark, desolate, and in a way, cold, the bridge stood.

"We won't forget Voyager," Kathryn spoke up, noticing his wandering eyes. She finally smiled as she looked up at him, "We've made our mark on…" she paused, trying to find the right words, "A star beyond the chart. Who knows? Maybe in the future when the Federation can travel willingly to the Delta Quadrant, people like the Devore," (this brought a groan from Chakotay), "the Vidiians, and even maybe Q may tell stories about us."

"Q?" Chakotay asked sceptically.

"Yeah, ok. Bad idea." Janeway added, shaking her head, mortified with the suggestion. "She was a good ship," she said, putting a hand on the railing, grasping it until her knuckles turned white. She didn't want to let go.

"Kathryn – you have to let go. The past is behind us. The future is ahead." He spread his palm over her hand and gave it a tiny squeeze, "We'll all have to face the future, but we should know that we always have our friendship."

She smiled as she let go of the railing to weave her fingers into his, "Yes, I suppose you're right. Let's head down…Neelix has to be preparing something. And I'll bet it has leola root in it."

They both grimaced at the mention of leola root before smiling at each other and heading towards the turbolift.

* * *

"I'll just add a bit of leola root in there, and voila!" Neelix said to himself, laying the pan onto the fire. Rewards of sizzles and a wafting smell caressed the mess hall as Neelix smiled. "Vidiian style stew! Magnificent! I should really thank the Doctor for getting that recipe from Danara Pel…"

Neelix began to hum sadly as he stepped out from behind the galley, wiping his hands against each other.

"Computer," he cautiously called, looking to the ceiling as he often did, "are you online now?"

_Please rephrase the question_.

"Computer, raise lighting by 30 percent."

The computer obliged with a beep and the lighting immediately became brighter. Neelix kept rubbing his hands together as he looked around. He frowned as he found something on one of the tables that shouldn't have been there – it was a small frame. Puzzled, he walked over to it. Then it hit him with a ton of bricks – it was a picture of himself, Samantha Wildman and at the time, the infant Naomi standing on a planet. Damned if he could remember the planet's name…what was it?

His frown deepened as he picked it up with his spotted hands. Naomi…she grew up on Voyager and now she was going to be subjected to the expansive Alpha Quadrant. He sat down almost carelessly and looked at the picture, remembering the past. How this had been the area where informal meetings took place. How Naomi had been introduced here. How First Contact day had been celebrated year after year. Good times and bad – this had always been the place to talk about it.

Everybody confided in him. He was proud. He let himself smile a toothy grin as he looked outside of the window. It was dark and silent. Until a sharp sizzle caught his ear.

He lept up from the table with a yelp, and dashed to the galley to remove the over-boiling stew off of the element. It was charred. "Great," he muttered as he placed the useless dish aside. "I just suppose everyone will have to just have drinks." He sighed as he walked over to the replicator. Silence made him edgy. "Nihilophobia", as the Doctor had said. He began to request drinks as he heard the door slide open. Immediately he relaxed as he heard voices. The crew that he had easily been accepted on. His friends.

"Alright!" he called out to B'Elanna, holding out a Klingon beverage that she liked, "Who's up for some drinks?"

* * *

The mess hall felt strangely empty, being occupied by only the nine friends. Neelix sighed as he remembered a time where it was busy even at the midnight hours. He watched everyone sit silently, sipping their final drinks on the Starship Voyager. The mood was definitely downcast, even Seven could tell that. Even the lights, as bright as they were, almost dimmed with the atmosphere.

Kathryn sighed, grasping her mug with two hands. "Does everyone remember when we first met Q?" signifying the time when they had mistakenly rescued a condemned Q from an asteroid, only to have the _infamous_ Q show up and try to make him go back.

B'Elanna groaned, "And he took us back to before the formation of the cosmos? I'll never forget it! What about when ol' Vulcan here got taken over by an alien?"

Seven tilted her head, "When was this?"

The Doctor laughed, leaning back in his chair, crossing one leg over the other, "First year – stardate 48734, an alien presence got in the ship and wanted to be taken home, and so mainly used Tuvok to get it home."

"Speaking of you, Doctor," Tuvok stated tonelessly with his eyebrow raised, "what about when you decided to tamper with your program, adding personality subroutines?" He watched as the Doctor immediately went silent, "You almost killed several people."

"Yeah, bad move, don't tell me again." He groaned, shaking his head, "But what about those _other_ evil doctors? You know, the aliens who decided to experiment on all of you while they were invisible to the naked eye?"

Seven raised her head, almost arrogantly, "That's when I got the idea for the Doctor to change the parameters of my cybernetic implant so I could see them."

Kathryn groaned, putting her head in her hands, "I swore I would _never_ get rid of that headache. And you, Tuvok," she added, turning her head to look at the Vulcan to her right, "You said that you'd come with me on vacation to France."

"Speaking of France…" Paris piped up, grinning broadly.

"Sandrine's." everybody chorused, before erupting into glorious laughter, turning the awkward silence of the mess hall away.

Once the laughter died down, everyone began sharing looks with each other, remembering all the adventures they were on. Suddenly, they didn't seem as alone as they did on the Enterprise – this was there home, and leaving Voyager in deep space would never change any fact. Neelix coughed, bringing everyone's attention to him. He immediately looked up, and then back down.

"Say, Neelix, how's your lung holding up?" Kim asked politely.

"Kes," he mumbled, "I miss Kes."

The air, as pleasant as it was made with the talk of joyous times immediately evaporated and made room for the air of remembering Kes. Everybody had felt a special bond to the Ocampan, especially Neelix. He lowered his head, immediately regretting that he even brought up the subject. But, of course, Kes was the one to replace his lung when it was stolen. Kes was the light of his life, and she was gone.

Kathryn frowned she turned her eyes towards the table and began poking her coffee mug with her fingernail. She would always remember Kes. As would the rest of her crew – that was for sure.

The only one who looked the slightest bit nonplussed was Seven, who only slid her gaze from one member of the crew to another as the silence unfolded awkwardly.

"I…had no idea she meant that much to Voyager," she stated, her voice hard.

"Meant that much?" Chakotay asked, looking at Seven with mild curiosity, "She meant what you're thinking, and more. Kes was…"

"Kes." The EMH finished, absently looking out at the surrounding nebula, frowning in remembrance. Perhaps the entire crew would remember her, but he would remember every detail of everything – he didn't want to. It hurt to think of her and remember all she did for him.

"You knew Kes for only a couple of days," Janeway explained to Seven, finally raising her sad eyes from the table.

"I fail to see the point of that statement."

"You _fail_ to see anything emotional, Seven!" Neelix snarled uncharacteristically. "Kes…she gave everything for this ship. She escaped her people; she wanted to venture out into the stars! And in return, she gave everything!"

"Neelix! Calm down!" Paris yelled, standing up. He began to walk over to Neelix, who had gotten over his anger, and had collapsed into a chair, trying to hold back the tears that threatened to spill down his face.

Kathryn had heard enough, and lowered her head in her hands. "Neelix," she whispered, not trusting herself to speak any louder, "She left because she wanted to. She was doing what she was doing all along – exploring the stars. If we can't respect that…"

"I _am_ respecting it!" Neelix cried, reaching hysterics.

"Neelix – she could be right here, watching over us," Chakotay said carefully.

"If she's here, why doesn't she give us a sign? Any sign!" Neelix shot back, looking up at the ceiling.

Tuvok merely raised an eyebrow as he always did in human situation he could really not comprehend the meaning of; "It would be illogical, if her matter was here, to point herself out, because our reactions would change."

Silence once again fell upon the mess hall as the reality of both the Talaxian and the Vulcan's statements came through. She could be watching over them. She probably was. Janeway looked at B'Elanna and Seven, who were both stunned into silence, a rarity for both of them, and she gave a faint smile.

"Tom?" she asked, looking at Paris, who was still trying to console the emotional Neelix, "Since your 20th century history is superb…I…I want to ask you something."

"Go ahead," he replied cautiously.

"My grandmother told me of a song that her grandmother used to play in the late 20th century. I…don't remember what it's called, but I know that it had the word 'remember' in the title of it."

Paris frowned as he thought, "That's a bit of a wide search, captain. Can you give me any other details about it?"

Kathryn shook her head, "The only other thing I know is that it was song by a soloist – a female."

"Bah," Tom shrugged, "Still too wide a search for my mind to handle. Computer!' he called, being met with the beeping of the console, "Do a search through musical banks starting at the last 20 years of the 20th century until the mid 21st century. Display results sung by a female and with the word 'Remember' in the title."

"_Search initiated,_" the computer said back, and went silent, beginning its task.

Harry looked puzzled, "Why did you ask about that?"

Kathryn shrugged and bit her lip, "If I'm right, there's a lyric that pertains to our situation. I can't explain it," she finished, rather lamely.

"_Search complete_," the computer chimed, beginning to show the results on the console on the wall that almost no one ever used. Paris walked over to it quickly and began to skim through the results – there weren't too many of them. Janeway upped and joined him, crossing her arms.

"Wait. That's it," she said, pointing at one song.

"Computer, recall lyrics to '_I Will Remember You_'."

The computer complied, and text began to scroll. Kathryn's eyes softened as she skimmed through the lyrics, looking for what she wanted to find. She shared a look with Paris, who gave her a sad smile.

"Listen to this refrain," he called out for the benefit of those behind him. "'_I will remember you_'…"

"'_Will you remember me?_'" Kathryn said the next line.

"'_Don't let you life pass you by_'…" Paris slowed as he read that, sharing another look with his captain.

Both of them turned around and looked at Neelix, tears from his eyes dropping onto the table,

"…'_Weep not for the memories.'_…" Janeway whispered, feeling tears come to her own eyes. She coughed as she tried to keep her emotions limited. Sitting back down, she leaned back and muttered something that nobody else caught.

"Well," she finally announced, peering intently at the crew, "We need to initiate the transfer of data to the Enterprise." She pressed her commbadge, "Janeway to Data,"

"Data here."

"We're ready to initiate the transfer…"

The rest was caught in a blur to Neelix. _Weep not for the memories…_He had no choice. He couldn't help it. But then he remembered how Kes would feel if she saw him like this. She would only wipe his tears and tell him that everything happens because people let it happen. It never would have happened if someone had denied it.

He smiled at the thought and realized that an uncomfortable silence had fallen over the area again.

"Kes will always be with us," he finally mustered enough confidence to say, "As will the memories of the ship. And I'm sure that if we really need to…we can extract the information from the Doctor."

The EMH scowled as the rest of the crew began to laugh. The awkwardness was finally gone. They were finally at peace with their memories and pasts.

--

**Author's notes**: First off, I just want to thank everyone that's taken the time to R&R. You guys help me so much and make me feel love. I heart you all back :)

Ever since I wrote the prologue, I knew that Voyager wouldn't be coming back with the crew and so I've, in a way, been planning this since I started writing it. _I Will Remember You_ by Sarah McLachlan was just a late night brainwave I had, and it ended up working (go figure). I also know that this chapter may appear cheesy and whatnot, but I think it had to be done.

I should also note that well, in my Voyager fics, if they take place in what I call The Seven Era, I always take time to mention Kes. When I started watching the show, I was young, and Kes immediately became my favourite character. I was almost 9 when The Gift (4x02) first showed, and was obviously a bit distraught over it. So I always take it to heart to mention Kes, if only for my own mind. Heh. grin :)


	7. Chapter 6: One Bridge, Q Captains

**Chapter 6 – One Bridge, Q Captains**

Kathryn sighed as she walked back into her shared quarters after returning from Voyager. She was tired and a bit depressed even after they had settled all their past. The doors swished open and she was greeted by the friendly, albeit surprised face of Samantha.

"Hey, Sam," Janeway smiled forcedly, as she sat on the couch by the window, looking out at the nebula that they would soon be leaving.

"Hello, captain," Wildman replied, her smile evaporating and becoming a worried look, "Is everything alright?"

The Captain looked at her friend and her smile became genuine. "Yeah, Sam. I suppose you've heard that we're leaving Voyager?"

"Oh, that. Yeah…" Sam lowered her head a bit, "I don't want to leave it."

"No one does, but we have to do it." Kathryn stood up and walked over to Samantha, sitting down with her and putting her hand around her shoulder, "We're home – Naomi can grow up with you and her father, not having to just hear about what Earth is – she can see it."

Samantha let out a hoarse chuckle, wiping her eyes of the tears that had just formed, "No more of Neelix' fabrications about what Earth looks like?"

Janeway laughed too, hugging her close, "Nope. No more purple sky." Sobering, she looked up around the relatively dark quarters, "We're back." She murmured, brushing a piece of her hair back to its normal position with her free hand. She squeezed Sam's shoulders again.

"We'll be fine. We have an excellent crew to take care of us, and we're still able to do our work – it's not like we're going to die of inactivity," Sam said slyly, straightening her grey neck. "Now, are you the captain or the first officer?"

Janeway leaned back to give her The Look, which caused them both to erupt into laughter.

"I really don't know why you wish to see me counsellor," his voice was serene, almost frightening.

"I just…want to understand you," she answered almost as serenely. She regarded his nod with fascination. He was dressed in all black, his slightly whiting hair slicked back over his head, but she couldn't get over the eyes.

"Understand away," he smirked, leaning back against the couch. Suder placed his hands on his lap carefully. "You're a Betazoid," he announced before she had taken her first words.

"Yes, yes I am. And so are you," she replied pointedly, raising an eyebrow. Suder only shrugged, his expression not changing. His eyes were kind of freaking her out a little bit. "Why did you kill him?"

Suder then frowned softly, not appreciating the abruptness of the topic change, "That was a long time ago," he breathed, closing his eyes. Deanna let out a quiet breath of relief as his cold eyes shut. She had known few people with as lifeless eyes as he was showing. None of them were on Betazed.

"Yet you still don't know why?" she asked, crossing her legs, trying to reach inside his mind.

"No," he answered, "I told Tuvok that I didn't like the way he looked at me – that was true."

Deanna frowned as she was repelled from his mind – he was blocking her. She sighed, she hardly did that but Betazoids usually had a telepathic link with each other. He didn't let anyone establish a link with him – probably why he became a Maquis, she mused to herself. "You still don't have any other explanation?" his silence gave her the answer. She sighed – he was proving tougher than Barclay to counsel. "Well, what about your violent impulses?"

"They won't leave," he frowned, opening his cold eyes again, looking at Deanna with a mixture of curiosity and amusement, "But they're being controlled by the Vulcan meditation."

"So you're keeping with it?" she stood up, walking over to her plants, suppressing her shudders from his gaze, which she could feel trailed her steps.

He murmured his reply, to which she nodded. "Alright. You can go – I want you back here soon. And Lon," she added, craning her neck around to look at the rising figure, calm in his exterior, "you have to remember that you're not alone. It's not just you and the voices in your head."

He bit his lip, considering her advice, before nodding his head slightly; "I will keep that in mind. That you, Deanna."

He paced out of her quarters, leaving her staring at her plants. Frowning, the voices in his head started talking to him again. He quietly sighed, walking forward, using the Vulcan tricks that Tuvok had taught him to suppress the demons. They screamed in refusal, but complied, and disappeared from his head.

Harry Kim sat, monitoring the operation station on the bridge. He was weary, he had the beta shift. Well, honestly, he had asked for it. Anything to get away from Tom after his little Revenge of Captain Proton! Ploy. He liked the idea, but it was a little bit early to be throwing away all the archives on Voyager for him. That's why he has swiped them when he went over to Voyager. There were still a couple chapters of Revenge of Chaotica! Left to deal with, so they'd go through those first.

But he had to be kept busy. So he was looking at the particles of the nebula gas that were on the main screen, swirling hazily. Data was captaining that shift, looking out the viewscreen without tire. He was computing different calculations about the time that they could get out of the nebula – hey, the newfound emotion of "boredom" had to be kept at bay, didn't it?

"Data?" Harry asked, turning around from the operations panel to look at the Android.

"Yes, Harry?"

"I hear you play the violin. Is this true?"

Data smiled, "Yes, the rumours have base. The Voyager crew also talks fondly of your musical talents and the Doctor and his singing," he added, blinking his yellow eyes.

Harry smiled, "Yeah, clarinet. I just…I sometimes wish that you know, I could have the accuracy of an android. I mean – never hitting sharps or flats!" He chuckled, shaking his head slightly.

"We will have to play together sometime – perhaps a Mozart opera, and thus, the Doctor can sing." Data nodded, now adding the harmonious thoughts to his analytical subroutines.

Harry smiled once again, and turned back to the operations panel. All was quiet on the bridge, remarking the time of night. And that's why all eyes shifted to the turbolift as the doors slid open. Picard came charging out irately, his open grey shouldered jacket fluttering behind him. He was frowning and his eyes looking angry.

"I probably should have called over a commlink, but there's a problem with environmental control. My quarters' temperature has just changed from Earth's climate to Vulcan's." he frowned, shaking his head, "I don't know what could have caused it."

"Captain – there are no anomalous readings in any of the internal sensors," Kim called, his fingers flying over the panel.

Not as soon as the words left the ensign's mouth did the turbolift doors open again and reveal a handful of senior officers from both ships, most trying to wipe the sleep from their eyes. Picard turned to them, an eyebrow raised.

"Almost finished with the examination, Doctor?" Beverly asked from her position behind her desk. She wiped her eyes against the back of her hand and stifled a yawn.

"Just did," he announced proudly, walking over to her and watching her stand up.

"Do you think you'd be able to watch sickbay for the night?" she looked at him, blinking to try and clear her vision, "I'd get one of the nurses to do it, but when there's a doctor like yourself, why bother?" she smiled at the Doctor's beam.

"I'll be fine. Get some sleep."

Dr Crusher nodded thankfully and began to head out of sickbay, before a flash of light from the corner of her eye stopped her in her tracks.

"What was that?"

The EMH frowned, "I didn't see anything. You may be suffering from…" he stopped under her swift glare, before raising his eyebrows quickly, "I see a problem, I diagnose it."

"That light…" she shrugged her shoulders, turning back towards the door, "nevermind," she mumbled, shaking her head.

The EMH frowned at her before sitting down at the CMO's desk. He turned around in the chair to access the panel behind it. He glanced through the selection of classical music – he sniffed as it was hardly existent, and selected an Aria from an opera he liked. Closing his eyes, he swayed his head to the music.

And then he saw the light from underneath his lids.

"Well, aren't _you_ the busy little worker today?"

The EMH opened his eyes abruptly, and leaned against the desk as he saw someone sitting on it. Someone he recognized very well. He frowned as the man put a hand to his side and smirked at him.

"I beg your pardon?" he frowned, almost snarling at the brown haired being in front of him.

"Doctors," Picard began through a commchannel that he had opened to sickbay. His voice was hurried and rushed, "there's a…"

Silence cut him off as the being rolled his eyes.

"We all hear too much of Picard speaking, don't we?"

Beverly, who upon hearing the voice, turned around and stared at him, hands on her hips, "What are you doing here, Q?"

Q opened his mouth to make a snarky comment, but decided against it, as he closed his mouth and raised his eyebrows, "I've been injured, actually." Looking pointedly at his side, which was oozing blood through his fingers.

Dr Crusher's mouth opened, agape. "WHAT! You? Injured?"

Another roll of his eyes made her snarl. She never liked Q. Q only turned his body towards her, hand still on his side. He made sure that his four mock pips showed, "Humph. It's possible. Your tiny brains couldn't even begin comprehend the scope of it though!"

Beverly sighed, putting her hand on her head, before walking over to grab a tricorder. "Who did this to you?"

"Well it was..." he paused, looking lost in thought. "You know, I don't remember."

It was The Doctor's turn to roll his eyes, "Great."

Ignoring him, Q stood up from the desk, looking directly at the Enterprise's doctor. He began tapping his foot impatiently.

"But you do know, I have to be on the bridge soon. I must see the captain, immediately." He said, smiling arrogantly. A flash of light enveloped him, and when it was gone, he moved his hand from his hip, smiling as the blood disappeared. He looked at the ceiling, one of his eyes narrowed. He never noticed the Doctor standing up, hands on hips, looking at him strangely.

"God, Q, you annoy us, pursue us, and now you're... wounded?" he asked, gesturing to his now healed hip, "What ARE you?"

Q slowly slid his glance from the ceiling to the Doctor. "I'm omnipotent. What are you?"

The EMH pursed his lips, not able to come up with a snappy comeback. "...Don't rub it in." he said rather submissively, turning away to look at the control panel.

Q shrugged, grinning mischievously, and he disappeared in another white flash of light. Beverly stood there tricorder closed in her hand. She looked at the spot where Q disappeared with intensity. "How do you know Q?" she asked, shifting her gaze to the Doctor, who groaned.

"Long story."

"Engage, ensign. Make for Deep Space 6," Picard paused, taking a deep breath of the normal air. It had given him a nasty shock when the temperature jumped so rapidly – he was beginning to have hallucinations of when he was a part of the Borg.

"Aye, sir."

The bridge was now filled with almost every senior officer from both staffs, aside from the Doctors, who, he couldn't understand it, didn't acknowledge his message. Add something else to go wrong with the ship.

"Kinda deep space, don't you think?" Q appeared right in front of the viewscreen, his hands on his hips, looking nonplussed at the nebula on the screen.

An awkward pause enveloped the bridge.

"Q!" the two captains hissed, standing side by side.

"Mon capitane!" Q exclaimed brightly, turning around, "It's always good to see..." he paused, his eyes flickering to Janeway standing beside him. "_Kathy_? Oh, is THIS a sight for sore eyes!"

Jean-Luc and Kathryn shared a look with each other, Picard's eyes filled with a lot of confusion, and Janeway's with a lingering look of contempt for the annoying Q.

"What the HELL are you doing here?" Riker snarled as he and Chakotay advanced on the figure of Q, who only laughed merrily.

"Riker! Chuckles! Calm DOWN!"

With a snap of his fingers, Riker and Chakotay were sitting at two different stations at the back. Temporarily disoriented, they didn't turn around.

"But Jean-Luc and Kathy?" Q cried happily, "Why hasn't the ship blown up yet?" he continued in his happy voice.

Picard scowled, "What do you MEAN, Q?"

Gesturing around, Q paced a little bit, "This is too much…captainage, for lack of a better word, for the bridge to handle!" He paused, sending his arrogant smile towards the captains, who shared another less-than-loving look. "Oh, wait a minute!"

Another flash of light enveloped him and he changed from his uniform replica of Picard's uniform to something bizarre – one half was the same but the other was the red shoulder of Kathryn's uniform, with a grey neck in some kind of hybrid between the two.

"Stylish, don't you think?"

Janeway frowned, "What are you doing, Q?"

"What brought you here?" Picard asked at the same time, his teeth gritted together.

"Random gallivanting."

"I find that to be...unlikely." Data's disapproving voice came from behind Q, who turned around to look at the android. Q's smile then disappeared.

"Alright, fine. There are some…troubles…in the continuum again." He admitted, a sour look on his face. "I needed to get away from it."

"So you came to torture us?" B'Elanna growled from the back, crossing her arms over her chest.

"No, I came to see my favourite captain! And I got _both_ of them! But the point is…Kathy, what are you doing here?"

"We jumped a wormhole, we got out." She replied pointedly, crossing her own arms. "I don't know why it's of your concern, Q."

"But it is. The continuum realized that you got out," he frowned, looking at her strangely, "And you weren't supposed to get out for another _couple_ of years." Twisting his lips, he continued pacing, his voice becoming melodramatic, "That wasn't supposed to happen, Kathy."

Picard snorted, "You're telling me to believe that you know when Voyager was supposed to get back?"

"Since day _one_."

Kathryn threw her arms up into the air, "Why didn't I expect this?" she mumbled, gazing back at the rest of the shocked senior staffs.

"Q, leave." Worf commanded from near the front of the conjugation, advancing on the omnipotent character. Murmurs of agreement came from the rest of the staffs. "We will force you if need be."

"You? You oaf? _Force_ me?" Q snorted, trying to choke back his laughter. He didn't succeed, his tone carrying throughout the bridge. "Very well. I will leave. But Kathy, you're not supposed to be here," he said in a warning tone before disappearing with another snap of his fingers.

"Not supposed to be here," she muttered, throwing dark looks everywhere.

"Captain," Harry started, narrowing his eyebrows, "Captain_s_," he corrected himself, his face contorting into even more confusion. "We…um, we lost viewscreen."

Picard paused, "Well then get it back, Ensign Kim."

"Trying."

Another few tense minutes on the bridge were spent in silence, before Kim finally sighed, happily as the viewscreen clicked into life.

Kathryn, joined by Chakotay, looked up. Kathryn's eyes widened, her mouth opened in disbelief.

Every other Voyager member, except for Tuvok, of course, shared the same look. Picard and the rest of his crew only adopted looks of confusion as they shared looks out the viewscreen and at the other Voyager members.

"Jean-Luc…how many people from telepathic races do you have on board the Enterprise?"

Picard frowned, looking at her, "Not that many. A couple dozen at the max."

"Where do you keep your pattern enhancers?" Chakotay filled in, his eyes full of worry.

"Cargo bay 3…" Riker answered, raising his eyebrows as he looked at the captain.

"Seven," Kathryn croaked, and with a silent nod, Seven took off at a sprint. Janeway tapped her commbadge shakily, "This is Captain Janeway to all Voyager crew. Plan Confinement is in effect. I repeat, Plan _Confinement_ is in effect…all affected to go Cargo bay _three_."

"Captain," Picard looked sternly at the rustle of movement as Tuvok left the bridge, his eyes unmoving, "What is going on here? What are these ships?"

The other Captain took a deep breath before looking at Jean-Luc, "Direct all of your telepaths to cargo bay 3. Tell them to listen to Seven of Nine, who will give them further directions. We don't have a lot of time! I'll explain everything later!" she pleaded, looking at the look in Picard's eye.

Picard nodded to Riker, who opened a commline to the Enterprise crew and relayed the message.

"We…oh god." Paris said, holding his head in his hands, "How…how could he do this?"

Kathryn took a deep breath as she looked out the viewscreen at the two Devore Warships on an intercept course. She groaned – they were _back_ _in the Delta Quadrant_.

* * *

Author's Note: I hope I didn't scare you guys off with the really long wait! And the extreme crappiness of the chapter! ((bows head in shame)) I scrapped my original chapter 6, just cause it was very...blah. And then I started working on my Batman Begins Cranefic and my Red Eye fic (Cillian Murphy ;)) so I kinda put this on hold. This was originally supposed to be chapter 7 - but I changed it.

Anwyays, I do apologize for how bad it should be. I'm so used to writing for the characters of Dr Crane and Jackson that I'm a litle rusty right nere :-( I just really wanted to introduce Q cause well, he's Q. Giggle. :) Anyways. So yes. They're back in the Delta Quadrant. Don't think all of it's gonna take place here though! There will be a time in the future...although...I won't reveal when. Cause I'm mean.

SO YES! This now, obviously has to take place after Bride of Chaotica, with the reference. And if you're wondering why the Devore are back...it's only cause I was actually watching Counterpoint as I was writing the ending. Go me. So I will say: Kashyk in the next chapter. I Love Kashyk. "PRAX!" Yay! So yes. Sorry for the bad updating of me, I promise it won't happen again!


	8. Chapter 7: Back to Basics

**Chapter 7 – Back to Basics**

"Captain," Worf called from the beeping terminal at the back of the bridge, "we are being hailed."

"On screen?" Picard asked Janeway, who numbly nodded.

The viewscreen flickered on, showing a frowning alien with a long ridge encompassing his eyebrows. He glared at the ship

"Gaharay vessel, prepare to be boarded in the name of the Devore Imperium. If you are found harbouring telepaths…" he stopped before looking at Janeway almost lazily. Janeway looked back at him with eyes that wouldn't forget – it was Prax. He sighed, "If you deviate from normal protocol, we will fire."

The line snapped off, leaving the bridge with the image of the warships speeding towards them.

"Explain this, please," Riker asked, verging on Janeway.

"We're back," she rasped quickly, shaking her head, "in the Delta Quadrant – Q must have taken the Enterprise back."

"We're in a region called Devore space. They scourge all stranger vessels to see if they're harbouring telepaths," Paris added, feeling queasy, "it's their cardinal rule that anyone harbouring telepaths across their space be jailed."

Picard looked stunned for the first time in his life, looking back and forth for any other explanation, or someone even Q - to come leaping out yelling "SURPRISE!" Nothing came. He grimaced. "We can't let them search the vessel!"

"No, not with two of their warships. Not even the advanced Enterprise could take them. Lower the shields, let them transport aboard. Janeway to Seven of Nine," Janeway called into a commlink.

"Seven here, captain."

"Everything okay?"

"_Confinement_ is going as planned," she responded crisply, severing the line.

"Kathryn, I need to know everything." Picard said coldly, looking at the half asleep crew meld into action.

"We hid our Vulcans and Betazed and some refugee telepaths we were stowing by storing their signals in the transporter buffer. They couldn't find them."

Picard began to pace, running his hand over his smooth head. "And we just let them search the vessel?"

"Yeah," she replied wearily, collapsing into a nearby chair, closing her eyes and massaging her temples. "We're back. Dammit, we're back."

"Captain Picard," Chakotay added, directing attention to him standing next to Tom and B'Elanna. "Your crew have to line up in whatever room they're in, so they can be scanned to see if they're telepaths."

"Right," Picard muttered, shaking his head numbly. "Is that _it?_"

"Devore have beamed aboard decks 20, 16, 8, 4, 3…," Worf listed off, his voice a deep rumbling.

Janeway let out a spiteful laugh at Picard's remark. "Nope. 'And deck one'…" she supplied for Worf as she put her hand in the air just as her comm. badge chirped.

"Captain Janeway!" a pleasant voice called to her. She rolled her eyes. "Please report to your…" the voice faltered for a brief second, "erm…your ready room?" he finally completed, his tone conveying his shocked facial expression.

She stopped massaging her head to sigh and stand up. Sympathetic looks were given to her by B'Elanna and Chakotay. Picard incredulously stared at her, still not understanding what was going on.

"Captain," Data called from the side of the bridge, "I think I am feeling…confusion?"

"Aren't we all, Data," Picard chirped, shaking his head.

Janeway let out a smirk and gestured Picard to follow her, who numbly followed. She and Picard walked into the ready room.

Picard narrowed his eyes, "Who the _hell_ are you?"

The Devore in the captain's chair turned around, smiling charmingly. Only his eyes conveyed his confusion; he hid it well. "I could ask you the same thing. But ah – Captain Janeway," he announced, switching his gaze to her, who had her arms crossed defiantly. He only grinned sarcastically at her.

"Inspector Kashyyk," she muttered in acknowledgement.

"Kashyyk?" Picard repeated, fuming. "I demand to know what you're doing!"

"Now, now…captain…" Kashyyk waved a hand in the air, swinging around in the chair. "You _obviously_ must know Kathryn…"

Jean-Luc and Kathryn exchanged glances. Biting her lip, Janeway hoped she conveyed the 'don't ask' message. Picard turned swiftly and glared at the Inspector, who was still talking, not noticing that they weren't paying attention.

"…and since you left our space a couple of months ago, we would have _never_ assumed you would come back," Kashyyk finally paused, standing up and stretching. "Replicators in the normal place?"

"No." Janeway quipped stoically. "This isn't Voyager."

Kashyyk frowned, "I _know_ that, but I missed your coffee."

Picard rolled his eyes and began to pace, wondering how much worse this day could get. Delta Quadrant, Devore, jailing, possibility of Borg…what could be next, he mused.

"Listen to me, Inspector," Kathryn said, "We _have_ no telepaths aboard. In fact, we don't know _how_ we got here. We were back at home and an entity named Q dropped us back here!"

"In the Alpha Quadrant?" a voice from the shadows caused everyone to turn. Prax stepped out, looking sceptical. "How could you get home from here?"

"They jumped a wormhole," Jean-Luc filled in, irately.

"Humph," Kashyyk murmured, rolling his own eyes. "And this…Q…how come we've never heard of him?" He accused, walking around the room, looking for the replicator.

"We _don't_ have time for your games," Picard looked at Kashyyk meaningfully. "We need to get home."

"And I have _every_ intention of letting you do that. Just as soon as we're finished our inspection!" His frown deepened as he trudged around, "The musical databanks on this ship are much…less refined than Voyager's. But anyways – sit! Both of you, sit! This won't take long."

Janeway sighed before sitting herself down in one of the chairs. Picard crossed his arms, glaring daggers at the pair of Devore. Kashyyk's face became smug as he located the replicator. He pointed Prax in the direction of the device.

"Coffee all around?"

"Tea. Earl Grey, actually," Picard shot out between his clenched teeth.

The Devore's smug look widened as his eyes sparkled with sarcasm. "This is only unpleasant if you make it that way, Captain – er?"

Met with silence, Kashyyk sighed. He walked around to the edge of the table and pressed Picard's console. His eyes lighted up with the data on it.

"Captain Picard!"

"I want you off this ship!" Picard bellowed, his anger bubbling to the surface.

"Aw, come now. It's against your _Prime Directive_ to ignore the rules and regulations of other cultures!"

Janeway flushed, not remembering having told the Inspector about their Prime Directive. Her own patience was being tested as well. "Jean-Luc – it would just be a lot less painful if you just sat down. This'll be over soon.

Frowning bitterly, Picard begrudgingly sat and accepted the teacup that Prax brought over.

* * *

"What…what are you _doing_?" Barclay asked, up against the wall, phaser in hand. He was pointing it at a soldier who was trying to scan him. Obviously, the threat hadn't phased the soldier, because he was still advancing.

"Figure 41a of our Directive – All members of a gaharay ship must be scanned and tested to whether they are telepathic." He answered gruffly, stepping closer to Barclay.

"I'll…I'll _shoot_!" Barclay responded loudly, waving the phaser in front of him, biting his lip.

The Devore soldier raised an eyebrow before looking to his comrades that were scanning the rest of engineering. Barclay frowned, fumbling for the setting button and pressing the fire button. It buzzed, but nothing came out. Reg dropped it almost as if it had burned his hands before resettling his gaze on the Devore soldier who looked bemused.

Geordi raised his own eyebrow before letting a grin escape his sombre face. Reg – he forever would be the _only_ Reginald Barclay in the entire quadrant. The commands that Riker gave him were cryptic, at best, but he had some picture. And then B'Elanna called him to tell him to make up an excuse for the increased transporter residue.

As if right on cue, the soldier went over to the transporter panel and looked at the figures on it. Frowning, he turned back to Geordi.

"Your transporter rate has increased. Why?" It was more of a statement than a question.

Geordi feigned a shrug, "We were doing a diagnostic on the transporters when you barged in here. We had to abort it abruptly."

"It has _not_ been used to transport anybody?"

LaForge rolled his implants, "Not unless they're invisible." He added irritably as the Devore eyed him – most notably his eyes – coldly before hurrying on.

* * *

"I remember you!" The Doctor exclaimed, crossing his arms. "You trashed my very valuable research on the Vidiian Phage the _last_ time you were here!"

"Vidiian…Phage?" Beverly repeated, her eyes not leaving the soldier who was storming around sickbay like a proverbial ancient-bull in a china shop. "Remind me to read up on that."

"Right. _Be careful with that!_" he bellowed, taking a step towards the soldier, angrily.

A shatter made him stop and begin muttering strings of inaudible words. He turned around to Crusher, his eyes flashing and his subroutines singeing with anger.

"Arrogant…arrogant…"

"Vatrobian amoebas?" Dr Crusher supplied helpfully, shrugging.

"Not what I was going for, but _yes_. Arrogant Vatrobian amoebas!" the HoloDoc angrily mumbled.

Another crash made Crusher bite her lip to prevent her from hurling herself on the soldier and using her knowledge of anatomy to _break something he would miss_. "Can't you _do_ something? He has a weapon, but you're not susceptible to weapons fire!"

He sniffed, pacing around wildly, "I'm a doctor! Not a moving target!"

"Sorry I asked," Beverly rolled her eyes.

* * *

"You are wasting your time."

The Devore levelled his weapon at Seven of Nine, who was standing in the cargo bay, looking rather bored. "I don't think so."

"This is only a cargo bay."

"Thjs is how you were storing your _fugitives_ last time."

Seven stopped herself from snorting just in time, "And you think that we would do that same idea again?"

"The Imperium warned us that failure shall not be tolerated after the last falter we had with Voyager." He growled, lowering his weapon and beginning to scan the area once again.

"This is clearly not Voyager," Seven stated matter-of-factly, placing her arms behind her back as if this were the most common thing for any ex-Borg drone to be doing.

Stopping his scan, the Devore glared at her, lowering his PADD. "You're lucky that you're not dumb enough to try the same thing more than once. The Inspector got inside information on you once, and he can do it…"

Seven cut him off, "And that information was false."

Muttering under his breath, the soldier turned on his heels and walked out of the cargo bay, the door closing behind him with a heavy sigh. Seven closed her eyes, thinking of how close he had come to realizing the truth. If she hadn't put some Borg algorithms on the pattern enhancers, they would have found the crewmembers of both Voyager and the Enterprise.

* * *

"None of your…um – Chop-ain?"

"Chopin," Picard irritably filled in.

"Ah, right. I particularly like his Waltzes. They remind me of…calmer…times."

Picard was ready to throttle Kashyyk, who was sitting at his desk, sipping coffee, trying to engage in menial conversation, figuratively speaking.

"I want you off my ship," he announced suddenly, eyes flashing. He adjusted his top and sat up straight, staring right into Kashyyk's eyes.

Kashyyk balked, "I'm sorry, captain, I can't leave until my inspection of your vessel is complete," he said sweetly, "And it's going to take a little while. Just _be patient_."

Picard scoffed, slamming his teacup on the desk, sloshing tea over the brim and down the sides of the cup. He abruptly stood up, his firsts curling involuntarily.

"Off the Enterprise – now. We have no telepaths!"

"Jean-Luc," Kathryn shook her head warningly, trying to convince him not to test the waters.

"We have let you scan our ship, and yet you intentionally delay your stay! There is no reason for you _to_ delay! So I insist, in the name of the Federation, that you kindly _leave_." he continued on, ignoring Janeway.

Prax's face clouded over, and he quickly grabbed his handphaser from his waist. He stepped closer to Picard, who eyed the weapon wearily.

Kashyyk's face never clouded over. His eyes sparkled as he watched Prax move towards Picard. He also took the opportunity to look at Janeway, who had her face in her hands, softly shaking her head.

She was expecting the worse, grimacing under the mask her hands made.

Picard stood his ground, glaring nobly at Kashyyk, paying almost no attention to Prax.

He didn't even flinch when the Inspector's mouth formed one word.

"Why?"

* * *

Author's Note: Yay! I'm not dead (Although I feel like it). I last updated this end of August. So let me update you on my rather boring life. I went back to school on Sept 5, whereupon I got my courses. I don't have such a bad load, although a computer networking course I'm taking is amazingly difficult (but fun) - a test every week, practical stuff every day, it's really awesome. Anyways, I'm getting sidetracked.  
Then, about 3 weeks ago last Wednesday, my throat began hurting and then I promptly lost my voice. I forced myself to go to school for the end of the week, then stayed home the next Monday and Tuesday, went to the Doctor's, where he found I had a throat infection plus a bunch of other heavy cold symptoms. I started getting better eventually, but LAST Wednesday, my throat started killing me again and I'm on the cusp of losing my voice, again. Sigh. So no working on fics ever. Blah.

And besides me being sick and my Networking course, I've also dived headfirst into World War II (Nazi Germany) - I picked up The Rise & Fall of the Third Reich on the weekend to start reading (although my Famous Faces / History teacher'll think I'm a nerd for reading it). And then a little new TV show called Threshold appeared (with Brent Spiner playing a cynic! w00t! I'm in paradise!) completely sucking up my Friday nights...And so, that brings me to my fic.

It's Thanksgiving 4day weekend up here (plus an all weekend Trek viewer's choice marathon! Squee!). So I told myself I'd get off my lazy arse and finish this chapter (I had about half of it written before I got sick). plus some other fics I've been working on. And I kinda lied. There was no yelling at Prax. ...Yet. :) Honestly, I dunno why I included the Devore other than for Kashyyk and Prax, but whatever. I had a bit of trouble with this chapter, cause there were a lot of people on the bridge, and I had to make Picard seem firm but kinda angry at the invasion of the Enterprise and whatnot. And I had to make sure that Seven did something and I had to include Barclay (sigh). So I dunno how it turned out?

Virgo: Well, the telepaths aren't out of the woods yet, but yay for Seven and her ingenuity, eh:) And you'll find out what Q is babbling about...eventually. Keheh. I'm so mean XD

ananova: Q Jr is, even in Q years, still kinda young. Cause if he was adolescent at season 7 and a baby in season 4, this takes place basically a couple months after the halfway point of season 5, so, um, math, eeeer - he's still young :P Maybe he'll show up sometime though.

Le'letha: Thanks :) Q _is_ always fun to have around, there's no doubt. And I'm glad you liked the scene with the Too Much Captainage. It stemmed from a RL conversation a friend and I had in history class (when I was theorizing this story) about what would happen if Q saw Picard and Janeway on the bridge. I couldn't NOT use it. And yeah, Q's being bad. But when is he not? Heh. Sorry it took so long.

Anarra: I'm not sure if Janeway is the _captain_ - cause it still is Picard's ship. And they're both captains. That's a good question, cause Janeway knows all about the Delta Quadrant. I'm leaning on the fact that Picard's still captain, but gonna rely on Janeway and the Voyager crew a lot more than he would have.

firebirdgirl: "good things come to those who wait" - I'm sorry, you just made me think of one of my favourite Hannibal Lecter lines. "But how long can you and dull-Jackie boy wait?" - you can wait a long time, obviously. (sheepish grin)

Anyways, this is so long, so I'll end it off here. Look forward to, in no particular order: more diving into the Delta Quadrant, Revenge of Chaotica, The Q Continuum's mess, more Q-fun, Romulans, BORG! and some other stuff. I know, that probably made no sence, but hopefully they'll all be included at some point. Sorry for the wait people. Aside from the Threshold drabble I wrote when I had a spare half hour, I haven't had any time to write.

Forgive me:)


	9. 8: Don't Hate Me Cause I'm Omnipotent!

**Chapter 8 – Don't Hate Me 'Cause I'm Omnipotent!**

Picard hardly flinched as Prax came closer, brandishing his weapon arrogantly. "You wouldn't shoot me, knowing that this is the most advanced ship in Starfleet."

"As was Voyager, at the time," Kashyyk rolled his eyes, smiling wickedly, "You think that we're frightened of that, captain? Not while you're in our space."

Picard frowned, realizing that he was at a stalemate. It was either keep protesting and be shot, or sit quietly and deal with this, and he didn't like either the former or the latter.

So he forced himself to sit down, scowling as he adjusted his jacket. Kashyyk's look became a happy one of gloating. Prax released his firm grip on the hand weapon, lowering it slightly, but still keeping a wary eye on the captains.

"Thank you, captain," Kashyyk crooned, grinning malevolently. "I can't underestimate what Prax would have done if you had persisted with your tiring little game."

"How long is your inspection going to take?" Kathryn asked wearily, staring at Kashyyk with an immeasurable amount of contempt in her eyes.

"As long as everyone cooperates, soon, captains. Soon."

* * *

The _Enterprise-E_ was becoming more chaotic by the minute. Three more Devore had come into the cargo bay and were pestering Seven of Nine, trying not to fall into the same trap as before (even though, unbeknownst to them, they were), there were 2 Devore soldiers in Sickbay, overturning medical supplies, much to the uncontrollable anger of the Doctor, 5 Devore were swarming Engineering, trying to scan everyone and their stations, to which Lieutenant Barclay protested before almost fainting from shock…

But the bridge was left strangely untouched. The bridge crews frowned as they stared at each other, the _Enterprise_ crew trying to comprehend the Devore.

"So they came aboard and they scanned you," Riker asked, confirmation from B'Elanna being a nod. "And then they just left you alone?"

"Kind of," Harry replied, shrugging slowly, glancing at Picard's ready room. "There was once where Kashyyk convinced us that he was changing his ways, in order for us to lead him to a wormhole that we were going to use to transport the refugees out of."

"Yeah, but Captain Janeway realized it and double crossed him…" Paris paused, looking thoughtful as he leaned back in his chair, "So, would that make it a triple or quadruple cross?"

"A quadruple cross," Data supplied, helpfully, his yellow eyes glowing, "Since Kashyyk tried to double cross you and Captain Janeway found out about it, she, in response, double crossed him."

"He must be useful at points," Chakotay murmured, shaking his head with a small grin on his face.

"Ok, so that's the Devore, but why did we end up here?"

B'Elanna snorted, "A cheap trick by Q, maybe?"

"I doubt 'maybe' has any place in that sentence," Worf rumbled, glancing at his half-Klingon counterpart.

"But the question is why," Riker answered, nodding slowly. "And what's with the shakeup at the continuum?"

"I believe I can answer that," Dr Crusher appeared on the bridge from the turbolift, looking somewhat relieved to be out of sickbay. "Well, maybe not, but Q had come to sickbay, complaining that he was wounded…"

"Wounded?" the entire crew looked at each other and began murmuring. Beverly shook her auburn hair over her shoulder and leaned on a console just beside the turbolift.

"And then after bantering with us for a couple minutes, he healed himself and left."

"A couple minutes with the Doc will do that, even to an omnipotent being," Paris said, trying to stifle his laughter, to no avail.

"Maybe it's another Q Civil War." B'Elanna shrugged, glancing at the Voyager crew members, who looked thoughtful. "Because we know that he got wounded by there – and I don't think that he can be wounded by anything short of the Continuum."

"But last time, he couldn't heal himself," Chakotay responded, sitting down. "So if he could this time…"

"Oh, such funny human drabble!"

Q materialized on the bridge with his trademark white light. He looked the same as he always did, save for the uniform, but his eyes were dull and there were some cuts on his forehead. Smiling in true Q-like fashion, he swiftly turned and his eyes swept the entire bridge, with all of its occupants glaring at him.

"Oh please," he snorted to the deadly silent bridge, "don't everyone clamour to say 'Welcome back, Q'!"

With a quick snap of his fingers, the entire bridge was filled with balloons, floating to the ceiling and bouncing off them as if it was zero gravity, and paper streamers were hanging off of consoles, being tossed about by a non-existent wind. B'Elanna pushed herself back from the engineering console with a disgusted look on her face as a plate of what looked to be Leola Root appeared in front of her.

"Q!" Riker announced dangerously, advancing on the omnipotent figure.

"Fine, fine. No sense of play at all, eh, Riker?" Q rolled his eyes and snapped his fingers once more, and everything was gone from the bridge, as were the cuts on his forehead. Worf narrowed his eyes at the suddenly missing battle scars. "Now, where's the captainage?"

"In Picard's ready room," Data supplied, looking at Q oddly, "Although I do not suggest that you go in there, right now."

"Ah, yes?" Q materialized a watch and glanced at it, boredom flashing in his eyes, "And why's that? Please, keep the explanation short…there is some place I really must be, but not before talking to your precious captains. And time is short. Time is short."

* * *

It was a weird sensation. Everybody was disembodied, floating around in the invisible confines of the transporter buffer as small particles of themselves, separated from everyone else.

Nobody could consciously think, but the 3 Voyager telepaths: Tuvok, Vorik and Suder and the 36 Enterprise telepaths, including Deanna had realized their predicament.

_It was a mad rush to get to the cargo bay as per instructed by their captain. The three telepaths from Voyager understood and knew the risks involved, so they sprinted to cargo bay three, where Seven of Nine was waiting for them with the pattern enhancers set up and activated. Tuvok nodded towards Vorik as he stood beside Seven._

"_The chances of the Devore finding us again are extremely high," Tuvok warned Seven in his monotone voice. "But we have no other alternative. Is it possible for you to…"_

"_I am Borg." She glanced at Tuvok who raised his eyebrows in response. "I am planning to put some Borg algorithms on the transporter trace to appear as if nothing had happened. Last time was too close for…comfort."_

"_I agree," Tuvok nodded, turning around to face the ever-growing crowd of telepaths. "If I may have your attention. We are in each in a very undesirable position," he called out to the Starfleet officers, "This ship is about to be scanned by an alien race. If they detect telepaths, they will kill them and impound this ship, as per their protocols."_

_Only Vorik and Suder looked nonplussed at the information. A shocked silence came over the rest of the room. "And so, to bypass their scanners, we are planning to hide in the transporter buffer."_

"_That's dangerous, isn't it?" Deanna asked, glancing around and feeling the emotions of everyone else. _

"_If we stay in there for a prolonged period of time: yes." Tuvok replied, emotionlessly. "Mr Suder," he glanced at the wide-eyed Betazoid, "You do know the protocols, correct?"_

"_Yes, Lieutenant," Suder called quietly from the back of the group. He serenely walked to the front and quickly conversed with Seven of Nine, who was applying the Borg algorithm to the transporting matrix._

"_Step into the transport enhancers," Seven commanded, to which all of the officers obeyed, some of the ensigns looking pretty nauseated. In a way, Deanna couldn't blame them – being placed in a transporter buffer for however long wasn't a great prospect._

_Their corporeal forms quickly disintegrated into the familiar blue haze that accompanied transport. All of their telepathic abilities weren't even needed to feel the tension of the little blue particles that were carrying their matter as they dissolved into nothingness, stored in the computer's buffer, just waiting to be let out._

Seven watched over the control panel, glancing at the life signs of the telepaths, which were disguised as inventory for the cargo bay. This inspection was taking far longer than all the others, except the mock one that happened to be the last one in the Delta Quadrant months ago. She frowned, more in frustration than of anything else. To be Borg was to be perfection. Failure is irrelevant. She placed her fingers over the controls, and tried to think of how long it was going to take to get them out of there.

* * *

"So you're saying that this little Imperium is trying to find telepaths?" Q asked, his smile widening with amusement, "Oh, goodie! This could be a great _game_."

"No games, Q," Riker said with his eyes glaring daggers through Q. It didn't matter if his looks could kill, since Q was omnipotent, though it didn't hurt to try. "Why did you put us back in the Delta Quadrant?"

"Moi?" Q either feigned shock, or really was feeling it, "I did no such thing! Besides, if I did that, _mon capitane_ would be very, upset with me. And I couldn't have Jean-Luc mad with me, now could I?"

"Hasn't stopped you in the past," Worf muttered, baring his teeth at the prankster.

"Besides, you're not even _in_ the Delta Quadrant," Q said with a flip of his hand.

"So you brought the Devore to the Alpha Quadrant?" Paris looked at Q sceptically, with his arms crossed over his chest.

"Erm – no. You mean this Imperium…you're talking about the Devore?" Q stopped talking and began to pace. "Well you should have told me. There's tons of Imperiums in the Alpha Quadrant! How was _I_ supposed to know? So you're in the Delta Quadrant…" he finished, his voice betraying his nonchalant attitude.

"Q," Chakotay asked dangerously. "What's going on?"

"Oh, it's probably the Continuum," Q murmured quietly, stroking his chin with his hand. He turned around, his weird hybrid Starfleet uniform even more bizarre from the back. "so this is the way they want to get back at me, is it? Two can play at that game," he muttered under his breath, inaudible to the confused Enterprise and Voyager crew members.

"I'll go deal with this…Devore. No need to thank me," Q called behind him, waving a hand in the air. "I'll do it of my own good will!"

* * *

With a flash of light, he was gone, leaving the bridge as quickly as he had come. Riker put a hand on his head and sat down in the captain's chair; no matter how many times they dealt with Q, he always brought a headache with him. 

Picard and Janeway eyed each other as Kashyyk was lost in his little world of Mozart. Prax was still watching them like a hawk, loosely holding his hand phaser. The two captains couldn't say a word to each other, held captive by Kashyyk's pride. Janeway fidgeted in her chair, doing her damndest not to throttle Kashyyk – something that she would love nothing more than to do. Picard, after his ouburst, had seemingly calmed down, even though his eyes were still blazing with a strict type of fury.

"See? This isn't so bad," Kashyyk nodded in time to Mozart's Requiem. "I honestly believe that humans should learn some _patience_."

"You're not the only one to think that," Janeway murmured, rolling her eyes.

"_Could it be that what Kathy said was true?"_

A bright light behind Kashyyk caused him to open his eyes and turn around in the Enterprise's captain's chair. He narrowed his eyes as he saw nothing behind him. Slyly turning his head back around, he gazed in amusement at the two captains. "Are you playing a _joke_?"

The two esteemed captains didn't share his amusement – they knew what was coming. Picard groaned in annoyance before realizing that they'd probably get out of this one way or another. That caused to groan again.

"_Playing a joke is definitely what these two would _not_ do."_

Kashyyk shot up out of his beige chair and whipped his neck around. He saw no one but Prax standing beside him, clad in his black armor, who was looking as confused as he was.

"Dammit, what's going on?" Kashyyk demanded, his eyes hiding his fear well.

"I believe that these two," Prax nodded at the captains, "Are trying to get out of their predicament, which means they're hiding something."

Kashyyk rolled his eyes, "Obviously they're hiding something, Prax!"

Q materialized right between the two captains he loved tormenting the most, and he crossed his arms expectantly at the Devore. "Honestly. You think that these two would swindle you? These two are the most stiff captains in Starfleet! They don't even know how to play games!"

"And just _who_ are you?" Kashyyk nodded towards Prax who fired his weapon upon Q. Q watched with amusement as the yellow-gold beam passed right through him as if he was made of photons and forcefields.

Picard, for once, was speechless. Q was…helping them?

"Sir," Prax called out over the whine of the phaser, "I…I don't understand why this isn't affecting him! We need to up the firepower!"

"Dammit, we can't! We don't have anymore warships in the area!" Kashyyk shot back, barking his orders loudly.

"But sir…"

"PRAX!" Kashyyk yelled, seething with frustration, watching the phaser's plasma go through Q, embedding itself into a scorch mark in the wall, right beside the case of the model Enterprise ships.

"I'm going to ask you to get off this ride," Q said amicably, as if it was the most common occurrence in the world. "We're going back, now. And if you're still here when we leave, well, I'm not sure that you'd like that."

"Kashyyk to Mirah! Quickly, get us out of here!"

The trio from the Alpha Quadrant raised their eyebrows as Kashyyk and Prax were enveloped in a bluish aura before completely dematerializing. Immediately the ship came to life again. Janeway heard both her and Picard's commbadge chirping, so she answered hers, "Go ahead, commander."

"Engineering has just said that the Devore have left," Chakotay asked over the commlink, his voice sceptical. "Is the Chief Inspector gone?"

"Yes…thanks to Q."

Silence greeted her on the other edge, so she overheard Picard talking to Geordi in Engineering. "Anyways, Chakotay, tell me if the Devore warships have left."

More silence, "Yes, captain."

Kathryn exhaled heavily as she tapped her commbadge, "Janeway to Seven of Nine."

"Seven here," she answered crisply. Janeway smiled, imagining how Seven was guarding the console showing 'inventory' from other eyes. "Are the Devore gone?"

"Yes, Seven. Release the telepaths. Tell Tuvok to get them back to their duties. The sooner we can get out of this, the…"

She stopped speaking as she heard the slight buzz that accompanied the commlink sever. She tapped it again and nothing happened. She placed her hands on her hips and turned around to stare at Q, only notice that Jean-Luc was too.

"Now that I have your _attention_, I have something I need to tell you." Q snorted, not believing he had to expose his problems to humans. "Lets head to the bridge, shall we?"

And with a flash of light, all three disappeared from Picard's ready room, the scorch mark from the phaser fire gone with it.

* * *

**Author's Note**: I think I probably owe someone somewhere some explaination...hehe. Umm, I dunno where to start. I finally got a huge motivation for working on this a couple of weeks ago (I finally finished reading _The Q Continuum_ by Gary Cox, a Christmas present from a friend, and just had the oddest urge to fic my heart out) and so in a couple of hours today, it was done. I apologize for never getting this up sooner, but I've kinda been busy. But this is "exam week" up here so for the most part, I don't have a thing to do this week.

So, you know what to do - you better click that little menu thing and say "submit review" cause then you'll get my undying love (PLUS a response! Brilliant, eh?) and then if you want to, head over to my forums in profile and leave a message in the Bridging of the Mind topic under the Star Trek forum. Or something.

You know you want to, Dave. ;)

Again, apologies. I'm sure another chapter'll be up sometime this week, as will some of my other fics. Plus I might put up a House/Star Trek crossover up (can anyone say the oddest combination ever!). So ta :)


	10. Chapter 9: The Never Ending Trial

**Chapter 9 – The Never Ending Trial**

With a flash of light, Janeway and Picard came to materialize on the bridge, momentarily blinding the rest of the two crews. Janeway immediately began to move her head, trying to find the omnipotent being that had just accompanied them. Picard as well turned on the spot, scowling.

"No need to look around, _mon capitane_." Q answered the unspoken question with a wave of his hand as he adjusted his position in Picard's chair. "I'm right here."

"Q!" Picard announced irritably, "Explain yourself!"

"Yeah," B'Elanna muttered under her breath, "I'd like to know why we're back in the spot we've been getting away from for five years."

"I heard that, Little Miss Klingon," Q snorted impatiently, standing up from the chair, adjusting his hybrid uniform. "And to answer your question, it's a long story, starting at the beginning of the cosmos, but it's one that _everyone_ should hear."

With a snap of his fingers, more figures materialized on the bridge – those of Seven of Nine, Tuvok, Deanna and The Doctor. Most looked bewildered, but immediately after orienting themselves, they glowered.

"You see…when I was a young Q."

"Cut the theatrics, Q," Janeway snapped angrily, "_What the hell is going on here?_"

Riker raised an eyebrow and smirked as Data swivelled around in his chair and snuck an almost confused look towards the first officer. Riker waved a hand slowly and his jovial look disappeared as he focused back on the pacing Q.

"Fine," Q snapped back, "But you're missing out on a good story!" he continued haughtily, turning around to face the rest of the crew.

None of them looked particularly disappointed in missing it. B'Elanna was standing with her arms crossed as she leaned against a panel at the back of the bridge, Worf and Tuvok, next to her were looking just as annoyed, both with their hands behind their backs. The Doctor was right by the turbolift, looking as irritable as always, and Dr Crusher was sitting by the environmental controls, one leg crossed over the other. Paris and Kim were sitting at and standing by the helm respectively, while Riker and Chakotay were sitting in the chairs on either side of the captain's chair. Seven frowned dispassionately as she stood behind tactical, while Data at operations, was probably the only one that didn't really show any emotion. Geordi, over at engineering, actually bet that Data turned off his emotions chip in order to be rather civil to Q. Deanna merely sighed as she sensed the rest of the crew's annoyance with the omnipotent being, who was pacing in front of the two captains, going along the width of the viewscreen.

"In short, there is an issue within the continuum." Q said quietly, still a bit upset that they didn't want to hear the full story.

"What kind of issue?" Paris asked sceptically.

"A civil war issue?" B'Elanna mockingly interjected, causing Q to scowl.

"It's worse than a civil war, I'm afraid." Q dropped his demeanour for a moment and frowned. "It's a lot worse."

Picard massaged one of his temples, placing the other one on his hip. "Worse than a civil war with omnipotent beings?"

Q nodded silently, "Imagine that you and Kathy had a brawl on this ship, on this bridge for some obscure power-driven, ego related, petty human reason. The Enterprise crew and Voyager crew would inevitably come to blows and there would be chaos! Not that I wouldn't enjoy some good entertainment…"

Picard scowled, "Now why would you suggest that we---"

"Magnify that conflict by an infinite," Q interjected before Picard could get out anything more, "and you would have the issue that is facing the Q Continuum."

Faces across the bridge blanched considerably.

"That sounds like a civil war," Tuvok said in the silence, calmly. Q scowled again.

"Well, it's not, Vulcan. It's something much more – and it's about your ship."

"The Enterprise?" Picard asked, his brow furrowed.

Janeway put a hand on Picard's shoulder and shook her head while still looking at Q, "…Voyager."

"Precisely, Kathy."

Picard frowned – what the hell was this about? The moral guardians of the universe squabbling over one human starship? Certainly the continuum wouldn't be that interested in _humans_…Q had proven it on many times that the continuum thought that they weren't worthy of existence.

Janeway merely tried to absorb this information inside of her skull. She shared a look with Chakotay, hopefully her expression showing the confusion that he was showing her. The entire bridge crews looked completely shocked and in awe of this latest development, but even so – she somehow wasn't surprised.

"What about Voyager?" she broke the silence.

Q sighed and ran a hand through his hair, "There was never a problem with your quaint vessel until you found Quinn."

"Quinn?" Worf rumbled. B'Elanna groaned, remembering the time when that Q had been on the ship.

"Another long story, and since you didn't want to hear mine, I won't tell you," Q responded angrily,

"It's in the logs," Janeway muttered to Picard who nodded silently.

"_Anyways_," Q interrupted, looking thoroughly rushed once again, "when you found Quinn and the continuum became interested, they decided to test you."

"Test? What sort of test?" Picard said forcefully.

Q only gave a sly look at Picard, raised one eyebrow and winked, "The trial never ends, eh, Jean-Luc?"

Data blinked a couple of times before looking at Q, "The trial you started with us at Farpoint."

"You mean to say that you were putting Voyager on trial after you were finished with us?" Picard spluttered, realization dawning onto him.

Q only shrugged, "Don't give me that look, Jean-Luc. You know how I hate it. But yes, yes we did."

Janeway put her hands on her head and began to pace herself, walking around Data. "What does this all mean, Q!" she asked sharply. "Voyager was on trial? All your visits were a part of this?"

"Not all of them," Q replied defensively, halting his pacing and looking out the viewscreen, "_I_ really like you, Kathy. I still do."

"Oh for God's sake, just get to the point!" B'Elanna cried.

"B'Elanna," Chakotay sternly warned, glaring at the half Klingon, who only looked towards the ground and shook her head. That look definitely told her not to test the waters at the moment.

"Fine!" Q shouted, "You weren't supposed to get out of the Delta Quadrant for another 18 years!" he snapped, turning around to face the crew, his face masking panic.

Deadly silence met him as faces all around the ship were aghast and shocked.

"What?" multiple members of both crews asked in unison. Q sighed heavily.

"The Continuum didn't want you to get back to Federation space for another 18 years! They didn't think that you deserved to be back! They thought, after Jean-Luc managed to prove them wrong, that they picked the wrong human – their egos, and believe me, they're quite monstrous, we're bruised, so they wanted retribution!"

"That's…that's impossible," Janeway stammered, narrowing her eyes as she stopped walking. "You're saying that all of our time in the Delta Quadrant after we met Quinn was mapped, charted and _planned_ by the Continuum?"

"Well," Q snapped his fingers and immediately sat in the chair that was winked into existence, "Not _all_ of us. There were a select few – myself included, that thought that you were just like Picard here; that perhaps you weren't such a low species."

Picard's eyes narrowed as he looked at the Voyager captain, who was shaking her head in frustration. The atmosphere on the bright bridge was subdued by the very heavy subject matter.

Q scowled from his chair, "You weren't supposed to take that wormhole, just like you weren't supposed to take Seven," he nodded towards the drone who merely blinked, "from the Collective…but that's an issue for another time. When you took that wormhole…"

"We got out when the Continuum didn't want us to," Tuvok responded carefully. Q only nodded sourly at the Vulcan.

"Why didn't you just get rid of the wormhole, if you didn't want us back?" Kim questioned angrily.

Q muttered something under his breath. Janeway and Picard glanced at each other before looking at Chakotay and Riker, who shrugged.

"What?" Picard asked, learning towards Q.

Q mumbled something again. Deanna sighed from the back of the bridge as she moved closer to the front. The Doctor rolled his eyes.

"If I have to go through anymore of this, my matrix is going to decompile," he complained angrily.

More silent enveloped the bridge as Q covered his eyes with his left hand, leaning on his elbow on the side of the chair.

"We weren't paying attention," he then exploded, bolting up from his chair, "Alright! Are you _happy_ now!"

Paris let out a snort of incredulous laughter, causing Q to turn around on him angrily, snapping his fingers until Paris couldn't laugh anymore – his mouth was completely fused shut. Paris let out a snort of panic and immediately put hands up to feel his new jaw.

"Q!" Janeway and Picard yelled at the same time, and Q turned towards them with a sort of amusement in his eyes.

"Oh you people ruin all the fun," he replied, snapping his fingers once again, with a grateful breath of air coming from Paris behind him.

"I think I have a reason," Data piqued up from the operations seat, looking thoughtful, "The continuum didn't want Voyager to come back to the Alpha Quadrant, so they took Voyager's crew _back_, even though they were on the Enterprise."

"The tin man has a brain," Q said sarcastically, though he sighed and nodded right after, "Though he is right. I protested," he added, trying to sound heroic, "But a fight ensued."

"And that's why he paid us a visit," Beverly chimed in.

"Exactly."

Janeway sighed as she looked out at the all too familiar stars from the viewscreen. Though she was pleased she wasn't seeing any Devore warships, it still haunted her that she was back. And she knew that the entire crew felt the same way. "Q, we need to get back to the Alpha Quadrant."

Q snorted, "What do you think I am, god?"

Picard frowned angrily, "Q! Stop playing games!

"Fine, fine, fine. But be sure to know that I'm only doing this for _you_." He replied flippantly.

The chair behind him disappeared and so did his sarcasm. He looked at the entire two bridge crews with a sort of deadly earnestness about him. "Listen, to me, all of you. There will be serious repercussions in the Q Continuum. I cannot guarantee anything at all – there are only a handful that support you, since the civil war exterminated most of Quinn's protégés."

Most of the crew nodded their ascent, with the exceptions of Data, the Hologram and Seven of Nine.

Q sighed, "I can get you back to the Alpha Quadrant, but I cannot guarantee where. If any part of the continuum is watching, they will try and stop me."

A sharp breath was an intake from some of the crew. Riker stood up and walked over to Picard, who shared a look as Janeway moved over to her sitting first officer.

Q cocked his head to the side and some of the amusement in his eyes returned, "Note that they will _try_. This is gonna be fun! If you're lucky, _mon capitanes_, I'll stop by for a round of Romulan Ale. If you're all still alive, that is."

And with a flash of light, he was gone, thus he didn't hear Picard shout his name in annoyance. Nor did he see the reactions of the rest of the crew as they spotted the stars move.

"Where are we?" Riker barked to Paris, who immediately looked upon the helm with Harry over his shoulder.

Paris stammered, looking at the instrument in front of him. "Umm…The Devron system."

Riker let out a chuckle of laughter, "How appropriate for Q…"

"But the Devron system…Mr Paris, set reverse course and engage at maximum warp!" Picard issued immediately. "Engage!"

"Aye, captain," Paris answered slowly, a bit confused.

"Why are we reversing course?" Seven asked sharply, as the bridge went from its almost sleepy state into full action mode.

"Don't your Borg databanks tell you?" The EMH, who was just as in the dark about the location of the system snapped at Seven.

"Don't _your_ databanks tell _you_, Doctor?" B'Elanna snapped in return.

"I'm a doctor, not a roadmap!" The Doctor protested, his subroutines fuming.

"The Devron system is in the Romulan Neutral Zone," Data filled in grimly, "And captain, we have two D'Deridex class Warbirds flanking us on our port and starboard."  
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
Author's Note: ZOMG I'M ALIVE! That's good news...if I even have a fanbase that reads this anymore! It's been how long since I'ev last updated this story? Oh god, I don't even want to know. Anyways. So yes, I am alive and kicking. Well, kicking is a relative term, I suppose. I had shelved _Bridging_ for the longest time due to me painting myself in a corner and not having the ability to get out without leaving footprints. Well, um...the paint dried.

Actually, I just came up with this brainwave tonight after I watched _All Good Things..._ on my Best of Time Travel DVD. I dunno why tonight, considering I got the DVD back before school ended in June and have watched it multiple times since then, but I can also partially contribute it to a message I recieved from an acquaintence on a forum I go to who said he just started reading it and was enjoying it (thanks TOR, if you're reading this now! XD) because that made me reread the fic for the first time in ages, as well as the sci-fi con that I went to last year being here in a week (and Robert Picardo'll be there! SQUEE!). And then I was watching _All Good Things_ and then well, when Q gave his final speech at the end of the episode, it made me think, And it clicked.

I started writing this at about 10:30 PM and right now as I'm writing this note, it's only midnight, so I'm sure that I have issues with it. It's unbetaed, and I've only gone over it once, myself. I tried to make it as realistic as I possibly could, plot wise. I even made it so that the Q wanted them to spent 23 years in the Delta Quadrant, thus somewhat making it fit in with the original timeline of _Endgame_. Umm, so yeah. I know it's kinda thin, but it's the Continuum and they have huge egos. And when you're dealing with omnipotent egos being broken, you can do anything! XD

Um yeah, so I do vastly apologize for my lack of ficcing. If anyone still reads this, I really do apologize. I shouldn't have kept it out for this long. But hopefully, now that I've got my Q issue sorted out, I can advance the story, with the looming threats of the Continuum, and now with the Romulans (PS, I really do like Romulans, eh?) and maybe some other stuff! So...thanks for sticking by me, and for new readers...hi. No more multimonth delays:)  
-Bethany/The Nth Degree


	11. Chapter 10: The Neutral Zone

**Chapter 10 - The Neutral Zone**

"Captain, we are being hailed," Paris mentioned intensely.

"On screen," both of the captains responded with the same quality of crispness in their tones. A slight glance at each other was all they needed to share. Nobody else seemed to flinch at the result. The packed bridge was on high alert and nothing more was to be said except for necessary.

The viewscreen flickered to life in front of them, moving from the view of the two Romulan ships baring down on them, to a very upset looking Romulan commander who was sitting on the dark green bridge of his ship.

"You are in violation of the Neutral Zone," was all he said, angrily.

"I am Captain Jean-Luc Picard of the Starship Enterprise," Picard started, stepping forward on the bridge, "and I assure you…"

"The treaty explicitly states that there should be no ships travelling in the Neutral Zone."

The members of the bridge looked at each other, all sharing knowing looks and grimaces that told all that needed to be said – of how much trouble they were going to be in if they didn't find a way out of this.

"I assure you ---" Picard repeated, annoyance just struggling to seep into his tone.

The Romulan pursed his lips and began to click his fingers on his chair's armrest. "I do not need your assurances, captain. I merely require an explanation, and unfortunately, there never seems to be one that will suffice for us."

Murmurs erupted in the back of the bridge. Seven merely raised an eyebrow. "I have heard that Species 6535 were considered…brash and arrogant, but I confess that I never…"

"Romulans are a piece of work, alright," B'Elanna answered bitterly, earning a snide and relatively approving glance from Worf.

"---and we were put here by this omnipotent being, who is now fighting against the rest of his people," Captain Picard was attempting to explain to the unimpressed looking subcommander. He turned to look at Kathryn, who nodded subtly.

Tuvok merely noted the absurdity of the statement. If it hadn't happened in front of his own eyes, he wouldn't have believed it if it was told to him. He felt highly sceptical that this Romulan officer would think that the story is credible.

"Enough of this!" the subcommander barked, slamming one of his fists against the chair, immediately confirming Tuvok's thoughts. "You are expecting me to believe the fact that there is an omnipotent being, one that who is fighting his own kind, placing you in the middle of it?

"It's absurd!"

_Tell me about it_, Picard muttered to himself angrily.

_Damn Q_, was a common other thought among the crews.

"We will give you 10 seconds to get out of the system before we fire."

"We're leaving now," Picard nodded and guestured to Paris, "Mr Paris, plot us a course and get us back into Federation space."

Tom nodded enthusiastically, "_Aye aye,_ captain," trying to hold back the elation from his voice. His fingers moved over the console and swftly pressed the initialize button.

Only to have nothing happen. Paris frowned as he pushed it again. A sound erupted from the console that sounded like a fizzling, and Tom immediately went into damage control mode.

"Tom?" Janeway asked questioningly, moving over the shoulder of the young helmsman who frowned intently.

"We…we can't move. Impulse engines are shot and we're apparently not drawing any power from the warp core."

"That is impossible," Data chimed in from operations, narrowing his eyes slightly as he brain computed the information. "Even if all the EPS manifolds were down, there would be no way to stop drawing power from the core."

"Data's right," Geordi interrupted, blinking rapidly as he swivelled in his chair in order to face the engineering station, quickly pressing buttons and beginning to run diagnostics.

"Find a way to make us move, Tom." Janeway said sharply as she put a hand on her hip.

Chaos began to ensue on the bridge as people began to become into action. The two security chiefs stood side by side, looking like mirror images of each other, while B'Elanna moved towards Geordi at engineering and began to scan the console with a hint of worried annoyance on her face. The two first officers began to move from station to station.

All the synchronous movements meshed well with each other.

"I can't do anything from up here," Geordi smacked his hand against the console, "This doesn't make _sense_!"

"Go to engineering, Mr LaForge!" Picard barked, looking sharply at the young engineer who nodded and dashed towards the turbolift.

"They are charging weapons," Data announced quietly, with all still betting his emotions chip was still set to the off position. "And are firing."

"Evasive manouevers!" Janeway yelled as the bridge shook with a disruptor hit. The green light of the Romulan weapons flashed in the now relatively empty viewscreen as it made contact with the ship's shields.

The Doctor was immediately tossed from his position. He didn't fall, but if it weren't for the railing in front of him, he would have been on his holographic head. He grimaced as he straightened himself up and looked irritatedly towards the other people around him who were all doing something. Someone escaped his gaze, however, and he frowned.

"Where's Dr Crusher?" he asked plainly, moving in order to dodge oncoming people.

Nobody returned his question as the bridge shook again.

"Do we have phasers?"

"Yes, captain."

"Excuse me…"

"Return fire."

"Captain – perhaps if we managed to---"

"WHERE IS DR CRUSHER!?"

"_Not here_," Worf growled, not paying any extra attention towards the EMH, who only huffed angrily and stormed to the turbolift. The only retreating look he got was from Seven, who actually looked partially amused.

Perhaps he had taught her too well.

Engineering was worse than the bridge, if that was possible. Geordi dashed from station to station after examining the warp core with most of the modes of his optical implants. It showed nothing wrong with it, and the five or six running diagnostics on the manifold and chambers leading to and inside of it, also showed nothing wrong.

"How's the flow?"

"Regulated."

"This should work!" came B'Elanna's voice from the side of Engineering, who was getting more and more frustrated over at the EPS grid station. "By all accounts and theory!

Another rumble made the warp core begin to spark angrily. The yellow-red hot embers that showered down dissipated on the ground, merely causing mere annoyance. Engineers watched the warp core carefully, just reading for the klaxons to start blaring out an alert for a breach. After a fraction of a moment, the engineering area went back to the way it started as – chaos.

"LaForge to bridge," Geordi tapped the commbadge on his chest a little harder than was necessary. "Nothing seems to be wrong down here."

"_What do you mean, nothing? Something must obviously be wrong_," came the irritated voice of Picard, who Geordi could imagine, was dealing with the situation on the bridge the ay he always did – with grace and expertise in the face of danger.

"Not that we can see, Captain," B'Elanna chimed in from the other side, shrugging her shoulders. Her eyes were becoming more red than normal as her blood pressure was rising.

"This doesn't make sense!" Riker angrily said, pacing as another explosion rocked the bridge. Though they were firing back, they weren't doing so at full intensity, in order to try and preserve the hope that they would come out of this with the treaty still in tact.

"Shields down to 67 percent," Tuvok announced in his very Vulcanlike way.

"Dammit, what's going on?" Riker asked, even though deep down, he feared that he knew the answer.

A pointed look from Picard gave him the same feeling. He would bet the next two poker games that this had to do with a certain single lettered annoying pain. Or at least, one of his distant relatives.

"We are being hailed," Data announced with the slightest hint of surprise in his voice

"Again?"

"The Romulans are never ones to talk," Riker apoke from the back of the bridge, craning his neck in order to look at the viewscreen.

"I agree, Number One."

"Sir?" Data inquired as he fingers flew at inhuman speeds.

"On screen."

The viewscreen turned back to the same Romulan commander who they had originally talked to. "Are you ready to surrender, Captain?"

"We have nothing to surrender to – we are having engine problems and we cannot start to move! Your attack was unwarranted and unnecessary! If you can give us time to get back---"

"No, no time. You have had your chance to prove yourself, and you have failed," the Romulan merely grinned maliciously. "Failure becomes you."

"I beg your parden?" Picard asked incrediously.

"I'm not sure what my brethren sees in you – it's puzzling, I admit."

Janeway blinked – what? What brethren? She thought to herself as she shook again with the bridge. She put a hand on her head as she paced in the back, looking over Tuvok's shoulder at the tactical panel – shields down to 54 percent. It wasn't good.

Picard narrowed his eyes, "Excuse me?"

"Honestly, I don't know what he sees in you. You are quite primitive." The Romulan laughed, a hearty, evil laugh. "It's like he's infatuated with a toy, and now that it's broken, he refuses to let it go and instead, tries to fix it himself."

_Q?_ Picard thought, and yet, in a similar way, he couldn't believe it.

"Now, before I destroy you," the Romulan continued, "I would just like to have it be known that the Federation will believe that you indeed went rogue and crossed into the Neutral Zone, instead of being brought here by us."

"I demand to know what's going on here!" Picard shouted at the viewscreen.

"My, you're picky for being a pet, aren't you? I just thought I would play with you for a while," the subcommander said in a mock childish voice. "But since you're being too defiant, I'll just end it now."

With a flash of light, the Romulan disappeared, instead, in his stead, was an older looking human with silver hair and a calm, yet malicious looking face. He wore a simple black robe like garment that brought back memories from the past. He sneered with a glimmer in his eye as the Enterprise's crew looked on with shock and awe.

Picard's eyes widened slightly as he took in the realization.

Janeway's mouth opened slightly as she too, put the pieces together.

The stranger un-Romulan smirked triumphantly, "I'm your judge, jury and executioner, but you can just call me Q."

---   
Author's note: I will keep this brief since I know none of you wanna hear what I'm gonna say.

But yes. Guess who's back? Um. Me. Yes, I know, only like, a bajillion years too late. And I really am going to say that I am sorry. I dunno what exactly I should say. I have no real excuse. For times, yeah, school's been getting on my nerves, but in general, with fanfiction, I dunno. I'd write little oneshots here and there (none of which are posted, by the way) but I couldn't do anything real for the longest time, even over the Christmas break. Add that to the fact that I had really just written myself into a corner with Bridging of the Minds and you got my unwillingness to start to try and figure my way out of it. And I know I left a lot of you hanging, and I apologize deeply, because I know myself how frustrating that can be.

THAT said. If any of you still read this...last night I felt so motivated to do a lot of things, for some reason, so I wrote this chapter in about 2 hours, and finished a whole bunch of projects that aren't due til Monday. I am now out of my corner (by dun dun dun! Q! An EVIL Q! And a James Morrison looking Q, for people's reference XD) and have the next three chapters planned out completely. While I have 3 exams next week, they all end by Thursday, which essentially gives me a week off to start to write these chapters and plan more.

So once again, my deepest and sincerest apologies for (if) anyone that still reads this and has since the beginning, and I will totally understand if you yell at me via message, because frankly, I deserve it.   
Fanfictionally yours,  
Bethany/TheNthDegree  
PS: This stuff WILL be explained next chapter ;)


	12. Chapter 11: Judge, Jury, ExeQtioner

**Chapter 11 – Judge, Jury, ExeQtioner**

Kathryn's jaw dropped slightly as she looked at the silver haired figure smirking upon them. Yet another Q come to destroy them. She thought it was bad when Quinn originally showed up – hell, he made the entire male portion of the crew disappear for a time. And then it was worse when the female Q showed up to cause havoc.

But they had never truly tried to _destroy_ humans. She put a hand on her head as she considered the information put in head of her.

Executioner – quite an irony, she thought dryly to herself.

"A Q?" she heard Picard say, breathlessly.

"I am indeed a member of the Continuum," the omnipotent being said, his voice deep and level, but calm. It was almost filled with a sort of contempt, as well. He merely blinked and pursed his lips, "But does that _really_ mean anything to you at this point?"

"Ummm, yeah," Paris muttered under his breath, earning him a stern glare from his captain. "Just slightly."

"Believe me," the new Q droned, "I don't think anything will be mattering to you in a moment, for your eternity waits you and believe me, you will have _a lot_ of time to contimplate…whatever."

"Wait!" Janeway called out as she stepped forward, angrily, "How can you condone murder, since you're the 'moral guardians' of the universe?!"

"As much as other members of the Continuum have annoyd the _hell_ out of us," Riker added, also stepping forwards, "They've never put us on the chopping block!"

"Well, is it _my_ fault that other members of the Continuum are weak? I'm here to…" Q smiled, and even though it was wide, it didn't look benevolent in the least. "…Clean up."

With a single wave of his hand, he removed himself from the screen, causing the stars to flicker once more in front of the eyes of the Enterprise crew. The D'Deridex class warbird in front of the Enterprise began to shimmer as if it were cloaking.

At least, until it started morphing into a different shape.

The green bird of a ship began to change – the wings and nacelles began to fold up to the main part of the ship, and the entire thing started to shrink as the ship itself became more and more transparent. No sound accompanied it as it silently shifted into a black inky nothingness.

"Is that it?" Paris asked, swivelling his chair around to face the two captains, who were standing in the middle of the bridge, both showing looks of worried concern.

"I don't think so Tom," Janeway shook her head, at the same time as Picard said, "Mr Paris, I believe this is just beginning."

An echoing laugh began to reverberate around the bridge, causing everyone to look all around, trying to find the point of origin. Janeway bit her lip as she found the viciousness of the laugh only seemed to punctuate the captains' previous statements with a big exclamation mark.

Picard turned around and sat down in the captain's chair, followed quickly by Janeway to his right and then Riker to his left. Chakotay frowned as he took a spot to the right of his own captain, crossing his arms as he stared at the void left by the psuedo-Romulan ship.

With a sudden burst of instability by the stablizers, grunts of annoyance and surprise came from standing crewmembers as they were caught off balance and in some cases, fell, all with the exception of Seven of Nine, who managed to grab a hold of her console with her Borgified hand and managed to keep relatively poised.

As others picked themselves up off of the floor, including Harry, who muttered to himself something that seemed to resemble "I'm surprised I haven't broken my hip yet."

"Captain Janeway," Seven said crisply as she pushed buttons on a tactical display at the back. "We are experiencing intense gravimetric forces."

"How large?" Janeway turned around, looking back, blinking.

"Similar to those emitted by a black hole." Data supplied, caching the readings of Seven's.

"How can you be so calm why saying that?" Chakotay asked incredulously as he stared at Data. "A _black hole_?"

Picard blinked, "Is that Q's plan? To turn himself into a black hole?" he whispered, frowning. "To drag us into a black hole and make it look like an accident?"

"I wouldn't put it past a Q," Janeway commented in response.

"Wouldn't put it past me is right," the source of the earlier laugher announced omnisciently. "And now I must say adieu, because this is the end of your story."

"Q!" Picard bellowed from his seat as another major shift in polarity rocked the bridge.

The red alert klaxons began to sound and flash as the rumbles began to intensity, and he area of nothingness in front of them began to become larger and more and more menacing. With a general silent affirmation, no one needed to say that they were moving closer towards the new phenomenon.

"Options?" Janeway asked quickly, looking around the bridge.

"Mr LaForge?" Picard called out, opening a comm. Channel.

"_If I heard you say black hole, er…there's nothing we can do," _Geordi's voice came on the bridge anxiously.

"_Yeah, we could spin our core and even initiate an breach, but…even that wouldn't give us enough force, if we were to survive, to escape." _Came B'Elanna's voice as well. Merely by the tone, everyone could tell that she was this close to strangling someone.

The Enterprise drifted through space, closing towards the mass and heading towards inevitable doom.

"All hands, brace for impact," Picard yelled to the entire ship, gripping the edge of his chair intensely, even though, honestly, it would do nothing. He closed his eyes and immediately braced for the worst as the giant mass took over everything else on the viewscreen.

Until suddenly, there was nothing but space in front of them. The entire crew on the bridge blinked once and then only began to comprehend the situation.

There was no black hole, no sign of the silver haired Q, just plenty of stars, fluctuating and shimmering in the universe.

"What…" Worf breathed. "What…happened?"

"I believe we are alive," Tuvok responded dryly, "And I believe that is what matters the most."

"Not just the fact that we are alive, Tuvok, but how?" Janeway responded, collapsing into the back of the chair, "This doesn't make sense…unless…"

"I do apologize," came another voice as he popped into existence at the front of the bridge. His stance was completely different from his normal one, and is face was for once, completely seriously.

"Q!" the majority of the bridge crew shouted, mostly in, even though very few wished to admit it, relief.

Q sighed and ran a hand through my hair, "I think I'm finally starting to underestimate the Continuum."

"You _think_?" Paris rolled his eyes, still not losing his sense of sarcastic humour, even this extremely close to death.

"I'm being serious, flyboy," Q snarled, "I…didn't think they'd catch me in the act. They rerouted you to a replica they created of the Neutral Zone, to fool you into thinking you were safe. Er – relatively safe. To deceive you into thinking that you were only facing Romulans. Instead of Q, I mean."

"_They_?" Picard asked, standing up. For once, he actually wasn't annoyed with Q's antics, for Q might actually hold the key to their survival.

"They. The Continuum. Those opposed to you. The Continuum is divided, as I've already said. The council are the most powerful that oppose you."

"So the Continuum council did this to us?" Tuvok asked, bluntly.

"Yes, Vulcan. However," Q frowned as he began to pace, "I find this latest turn of events unexpected. The council would never go out of their way to kill beings - they're way too busy looking over _important_ matters…they just wish to put Voyager back in the Delta Quadrant and turn back time so that none of this happened, and maybe cause some cruelty as punishment – a few more run ins with the Borg, maybe."

Eyes followed him on the bridge as he paced, still in his weird hybrid Starfleet uniform. He frowned slightly as he looked at everyone in turn.

"I don't know if he's convinced them…" he murmured to himself, frowning.

"If _who's_ convinced them?" Picard asked impatiently.

"Mmm?" Q looked up and scratched his chin, "Oh. Q, of course."

Everybody on the bridge, maybe with the exception of Seven, Worf and Tuvok, let out a giant sigh of exasperation.

"The Q you just saw," Q clarified, narrowing his eyes in annoyance at his having to explain _every _little detail to the humans. "He's a senior member of the Continuum and one of the most powerful of us. But, trying to kill you is something that the rest of the Q wouldn't technically allow at the hands of their own…unless he convinced them otherwise, which would mean he's leading the other side of this conflict – against the rebellion."

"But why would he convince everyone that it's right just to kill us?" Data interjected, looking thoughtful.

Q murmured something underneath his breath and stroked his chin. When he next looked up, he saw the pointed glares from the two captains and sighed, "Fine, let's not go through_ this_ again – I said that he might just have the teensiest of vendettas against me."

"_Vendetta_!?" Riker cried, "He just _might_ have a _vendetta_ against you!?"

"Well, I think, just maybe," Q faltered, "It's possible, at least!"

"And he's using us to get back at you," Picard surmised angrily. "And idea _why_ he might have a score to settle with you?"

"I haven't the slightest! I mean, it's not like I killed his pet Tarkellian. I just opposed him on a couple of occasions – fought him on a couple of key Continuum issues."

"Ego versus ego," Chakotay stated bluntly, causing the slightest of smiles from Janeway.

Q put his two index fingers together and began pushing them together, forcing them lower, before releasing the pressure, lifting them up again. "If you wish to put it in those petty human terms. He was the leader of the opposing side in the Civil War and he was also the deciding factor in revoking my powers. Remember that, Jean-Luc?"

Picard frowned and others shuttered as they very oddly remembered those few days in their history. That time was not fun – it had taken Q to do something decent on his own for his powers to be restored, and almost annoyed everybody to death in the process.

"So this is becoming a battle of wills between two omnipotent figures," Janeway frowned, "and now we're caught in the middle, with our lives at stake?"

Q shook his head eagerly as he teleported from the front of the bridge to the back.

"He's immensely powerful; you have no idea. I've only shown you a fraction of the power of the Q, and believe me, Q's not hesitant to use all of it."

The bridge went silent as Q sighed, before breaking into a smile. "The ultimate power of the Q – something that is a sight to behold for any race…you should be amazed by this."

"You mean, before or after Q tries to kill us?" Harry asked, putting a single finger up in the air.

"There will not _be_ an after!" the large booming, omnipresent voice of the silver haired Q came through the walls of the ship. "For I will not fail! Not even before you, insolent child!"

Q crossed his arms defiantly and pouted like a child who wasn't going to get a toy, "I hardly doubt that, Q! You will not kill these humans – why don't you show yourself?"

Q ignored the other Q's statement "Are you aware of how many Q are against you? The Civil War took out most of your supporters! You are blind, leading a small army wielding sticks against the might of plasma rifles!"

Q put a hand to the side of his mouth and leaned towards Worf and Tuvok, "A bit melodramatic, eh?"

"I will send them to their deaths and then you will obtain yours, Q! This is the last time you will defy me!"

The ship beneath the two crews rumbled and began to shake. Groans came from pieces of metal and rips began to appear in the carpeted floor as things began to twist and distort, and even in some cases, to contort into nothingness. Q looked around worried and quickly teleported next to the two captains.

"He's attempting to decompose the ship!" Q said quickly. "I can transport you to somewhere safe, and I can hopefully keep it from Q for a while."

"DO IT!" Janeway and Picard yelled as part of the bulkhead to the right of the viewscreen started to become twisted and charred.

Q snapped his fingers and in a stunning display of white light, the rumbling stopped and the stars shifted position again. Jean-Luc jumped to his feet once more and frowned. Seven, who had stayed quiet during the majority of the entire new developments, jumped into action, finding coordinates and vectors from the console beside her.

"I can now confirm we are in the Neutral Zone."

Picard eyed her warily, "The _real_ Neutral Zone?"

"I believe so, Captain."

Q breathed a sigh of relief before gaining a mere hint of his mischievous look back onto his face. He looked at the bridge crew and quickly shook his head. "The best I could do. He will keep looking for you, because I know he cares about me a lot more than he cares about you. And he figures the best way to get at me is to use you as pawns."

"To kill us to provoke you into fighting him?" Data asked tonelessly.

"In very, _very_ simplistic terms, yes."

It was originally bad enough that the Continuum wanted to test Voyager by keeping it in the Delta Quadrant, and wanting to put it back, Chakotay thought – but the stakes just got raised so much higher now that a psychotic Q with a grudge got added to the mix.

"God, Q, and this is all because you were countering his proposals?" Riker asked slightly awed and even partially frightened that he – that these two crews and ships – were a part of a giant game for two warring omnipotents.

"…And maybe I turned him into an amoeba when he wasn't looking," Q rushed out in one quick breath before disappearing.

* * *

Author's Note: Yay! AN UPDATE XD And not a few motnhs into the future!Ok, so before I forget, I should tell you - up until about 20 minutes ago, I thought I wasn't getting any email alerts and didn't know why. That's because Gmail decided to put them all in spam, as I just found out. So I got that mess sorted out. It was kinda funny, cause after I posted my last chapter and got no review alerts after 4 days, I thought nobody read it and got really saddened (at least, until I looked at the number of reviews on the page and said "waaait a minute...that's more than I had a while ago..."). XD I'm a nerd like that. Anyways. As I said, that's all figured out now.

This chapter is still unbetaed, because I just got a new beta (cause my old one has disappeared) - Le'letha! w00t:) So from now on, she'll be betaing the rest of this story (hopefully), which will fix all the small errors I know I'm missing.

I wrote this chapter in about 3 hours last night, while watching Final Destination 3 and some other stuff on TV (or at least, it was on in the background and I got intregued) and as a result, I'm not quite sure if it all makes total sense. I read it afew times and it seemed to work to me, but then again, I wrote it, so I don't count. I love writing normal Q - he's always fun, and this new Q is fun cause he's the first real bad guy of the story.

My new school semester starts on Monday, but now that I'm on a roll, I'm on a SERIOUS roll, so I could get the new chapter up faster (besides, my new semester isn't that brutal. Just calculus, really). SO yeah. I also think I'm gonna put Do No Harm (my TNG/House MD crossover) up at some point shortly, I just dunno where to put it (probably in the TNG section).

Anyways. I've rambled too much. Tata! Nth


	13. Chapter 12: The Neutral Zone For Real

**Chapter 12 – The Neutral Zone…For Real**

"What do we make of this?" Picard asked, gripping the edges of his chair tightly.

This was technically a briefing, but because Q had put them deep within the Neutral Zone, even at a speed of warp 9, they wouldn't be out of it for at least 2 hours, so they couldn't retreat to the briefing room. The threat of Romulans was too real, so they were constantly scanning for D'Deridex warbirds coming from any direction as they headed back to Federation space.

"The question is: can we believe Q?" came Beverly's voice from the back of the bridge. She stood there with her arms crossed. A few murmurs of agreement came from the front – people like Paris, Kim, and even Worf.

Kathryn shook her head as she paced, "No, Q may be annoying, arrogant, and bitter, but one thing he's not is a liar. And this other Q seems to back up his story…for whatever reason, he does truly hate Q."

The bridge went quiet as most of the pairs of senior officers became lost in thought. The security officers standing by the console, both with their arms clasped behind their backs; the two doctors by the turbolift, one biting her cheek and the other tapping a finger on the side of his arm; the two first officers, both looking down at the ground with their eyes narrowed; the two engineers, both keeping an eye on constant scans from the area. Deanna was just looking out of the viewscreen at the passing stars. Data and Paris were keeping an eye on the course heading, Seven was…well, being Seven…and Kim was thinking too hard.

"I am still not fully aware of the reason that Q would come after us." Tuvok said, interjecting into the silence.

Janeway couldn't help but grin even in the dark situation, "That's because it's emotion, Tuvok. Pride. If it was just Q vs. Q…"

"The whole galaxy would spontaneously combust," Paris muttered underneath his breath, causing Kim to snigger along with him. Both Janeway and Picard gave him similar pointed stares, which made him immediately shut up.

"Think of it – the battle would go on forever. You're aware of the civil war, which, until we stepped in, would have gone on for our lifetime, if not longer. Q told us that this would provoke him into fighting with the other Q."

Janeway stopped pacing and turned to look out the viewscreen. "And all of this because we jumped a wormhole," she sighed bitterly.

Before anymore could be said, an alarming beep came from multiple panels. Worf immediately crouched down over the security console and Data turned around in his chair to take a look at ops.

"Three D'Deridex class warbirds!" Worf grumbled.

"Red alert!" Picard shouted, having the red alert klaxons go off all around. Geordi and B'Elanna took one look at each other before both taking off to the turbolift to head down to Engineering.

"They are on an intercept course," Data said loudly over the din. "Estimated time to arrival, 2 minutes."

"How come we didn't see them?" The EMH shouted. "They're not even cloaked!"

"How come _you_ didn't see them either, then?" Paris yelled back, still irritated by the EMH's condescending tone, even though after 5 years, he should have been used to it.

The EMH looked shocked, "I'm a doctor, not a sensor array!" Huffing angrily, he also headed towards the turbolift to head down to sickbay, closely followed by Dr. Crusher.

"They are charging disruptors!" Worf rumbled again.

"Shields up," Picard barked in return, looking intently at the viewscreen, which had subsequently changed to a view of the three dark green, and menacing (yet in a subtle way, beautiful) warbirds.

"Shields up," Data acknowledged.

Janeway jumped in as she sat in an empty seat, "Evasive manoeuvres, Mr Paris!"

"Aye, captain." Paris responded tensely.

The first light green beam of energy came out of the tip of the D'Deridex's wing and must have missed the _Enterprise_, as there was no sudden jolt that always accompanied impact on the shields. The next shot from the second vessel, however, didn't miss its target. The bridge shook, adding a deep rumbling to the constant roaring of the red alert.

"Direct hit, shields to 93 percent," Tuvok said calmly. And truth be told, Worf was just getting the slightest bit annoyed at the Vulcan. He had already expressed his annoyance at the idea of a Vulcan security chief, and his placidity was the reason why.

"Return fire!" Picard ordered sharply.

Worf pressed the subsequent buttons on his panel and the orange phaser fire of the _Enterprise_ came into view, hitting the leading warbird's shields, which turned a dark green.

"Direct hit," Worf said, "No damage."

"Keep firing, Mr Worf," Picard said calmly, even as shot after shot of disrupter fire hit the ship's shields. Sparks flew out of consoles and landed onto the floor where they quickly dissipated but nevertheless caused damage to the electrical systems. Two hits from each warbird, with three warbirds, meant six attacks all at once, which wasn't boding well for the Federation ship.

"Shields down to 12 percent," Tuvok said neutrally.

"Mr. La Forge…" Picard called over the commchannel as he glanced at Janeway, who was wearing the same expression that he was.

In engineering, it was a madhouse. Smoke was billowing out from many consoles and also from unlit and sparking panels on the wall. B'Elanna was running around yelling instructions to the old _Voyager_ crew, and Geordi was running, putting out fires, and barking orders to the _Enterprise_ engineering department.

"Captain, we're doing our best down here!" Geordi yelled in return, waving a fire extinguisher in order to put out a brushfire on a console.

"Vorik, amplify the pulse differentiation!" B'Elanna yelled, running over to a surviving console and punching in commands.

"Aye, Lieutenant," Vorik said calmly. B'Elanna growled under her breath – it seems Klingons in general don't think much of Vulcan indifference in battle time.

"Three warbirds," Geordi said, throwing down the extinguisher in annoyance, "If we ever survive this…"

"_What's going on down there?_" Picard's voice came through the comm channel.

With a crash, mingling with the klaxons, another console burst into flames. "Nothing good, Captain. Shields are on the verge of collapse, warp drive is now offline, engines are failing, inertial dampeners are at 10 percent and we've lost cooling tanks 3 and 4– we're almost sitting ducks!"

"_And the status of the warbirds?"_

It was B'Elanna who came into the picture, rubbing sweat from the ridges on her head with a hand. "Minimal damage to the leading warbird, no damage to the flanking."

Another alarm chose that moment to come into focus, this one a lot more meaningful than the standard red alert klaxons, "Security breach!" Geordi yelled, looking at a panel on the wall, "We have Romulans on deck 6!"

--

The phaser fire on deck 6 lit up the hallways – the majority of it coming from Romulan disruptors from the dozen or so military officers now roaming the hallway, gunning down any opposition they encountered. Bodies of crewmembers in the wrong place at the wrong time were scattered across the hallway floors, some with their eyes wide open in the moment of shock before they were killed, and some shut for some other reason.

"hna'h, Hhrau lloann'na fvaid!" the leading commander yelled in Romulan at the troops behind him, to roars of acknowledgement and more disruptor fire. The universal translator made a log of what was said in Federation basic – "take down the Federation –" and there was no real translation for the last word, but really, the point was gotten automatically. When the security forces, led by Worf and Tuvok arrived, the slaughter began to turn into a full battle.

Green met with orange and blue as the phaser and disruptor fire passed each other, all trying to hit their targets. The Romulans ducked behind a bend in the corridor as Worf advanced with his phase rifle firmly in his hands. A shot from the Romulan commander caused Worf to duck by a door frame, holding his weapon vertically.

"Cover me," Tuvok said, joining him in the doorframe.

"_I_ should be the one advancing!" Worf responded angrily, swivelling his head to look in the corridor and shooting another blast from the rifle at a Romulan who had foolishly poked his head around the corner. "I _am_ the security chief on this vessel!"

"We do not have time to argue semantics, Mr Worf."

Tuvok merely gave the best scolding look he could, which simply said "trust me". Worf muttered a Klingon expression under his breath and started to lay down cover fire.

Tuvok, ducked low, carefully stared making his way down the corridor full of scortch marks and burned holes. The blue fire from Worf's phaser rifle as he continually started pressing the Romulans back, occasionally hearing a shout when he nicked one wherever he could hit, provided satisfactory cover, Tuvok thought, as he rounded the bend and started firing his hand phaser.

Quick flashes of orange came from his phaser as he hit the invading Romulans, his bursts, although set on stun, causing green lacerations to appear on the skin of the attackers as they collapsed in a heap in the corridor.

A jolt from the ongoing battle outside caused both security chiefs as well as the still standing Romulan commander to lose their footing. Tuvok rolled out of the way of a poorly aimed frantic disruptor blast and popped up, hitting his target square in the chest.

As the final Romulan fell with a cry of revenge, Tuvok stood up as another blast rocked the _Enterprise_. Other _Enterprise_ security members littered the hall with burn marks embedded on their skin – the disruptors were definitely not set to stun. Tuvok gave the most Vulcan-like sigh in existence as he tapped his commbadge.

"Tuvok to the bridge."

"_Yes, Tuvok?"_

With a short raise of his eyebrow, he turned back to Worf who was quickly getting up from his strategic position on the ground, "The security breach is under control."

Another jolt. Kathryn could tell that Picard was getting annoyed now. So was she, for that matter. The _Enterprise_ was giving it everything and still losing – 3 on 1 was really fair, wasn't it? She blamed Q for this, in a way, but then again, if it wasn't for Q, they'd be dead. And Romulans – they liked to take prisoners, since it usually fit their political agenda, and that would still constitute being alive.

But still, this whole situation made her blood boil.

"Full spread of quantum torpedoes," Picard said shortly, clenching his armrest firmly.

The security ensign that had taken over Worf's position when he left with Tuvok, a young man with closely cropped brown hair and blue eyes, gave acknowledgment in the affirmative, and moments later, the blue streaks rocketed towards the leading warbird.

The dark green of the shields lasted for 2 direct hits before flickering and disappearing. The remaining three torpedoes smashed into the warbird head-on, one even going so far as to break one of the wings away from the main body of the ship, sending a quick shower of sparks before they were snuffed out by the vacuum of space.

The _Enterprise_ limped backwards as the one warbird started to spark and change attitude planes from the one that the _Enterprise_ and the other D'Deridex ships were in. There was an odd quiet in the battle as the other two Romulan ships stopped attacking to notice their fallen comrade. It was at that moment that the D'Deridex exploded, sending a shockwave of warp core breach magnitude and assorted debris hurling towards the _Enterprise_.

"Brace for impact!" Picard shouted, and everybody within distance subconsciously reached for the closest object towards them that wouldn't move. The shockwave hit.

It blasted the ship backwards, throwing even the people holding on to something to the ground, and setting off even more alerts. Shields were gone, weapon systems offline, navigation offline, life support was failing on deck 17, and certain subroutines in the system's library had gone corrupt. Kathryn grimaced as she picked herself up and tried to remove some of her hair from her eyesight – even though she never actually had it happen to her, she knew it was never a good thing to be hit by a shock wave caused by a core breach.

As everybody picked themselves up from the ground, the two remaining warbirds stayed still in space, as if they were now stuck in a stalemate game of chess. Finally, the two warbirds shimmered as they withdrew underneath their cloak.

"They're probably retreating," Paris breathed, leaning back in his chair and groaning as he cracked his back. "They play tough until they actually get hit and then they back off."

A commlink came open, cutting shorter the very short respite on the bridge, "_Captain_! _We have a problem!"_

"Problem?" Riker answered Geordi, and Picard looked at him with eyes wide.

"_Yeah, whatever that explosion was, it blew our remaining coolant tanks – we're looking at a breach in 3 minutes!"_

"Can you stop it, Geordi?" Picard asked, sharply.

"_No, captain."_

Picard stood up immediately, "All hands, this is the captain – get to the escape pods, quickly!"

* * *

Author's Note: Hiya. Yeah. Again. So much for "no more multi month pauses" ... er...yeah. :) Sorry. I've had some stuff going on (work sucks, school sucks too), or I haven't been motivated to write anything or I've been motivated but just been lazy...hehe. But, now because it's summer and I don't work day shifts, I can watch pretty much 6 or 7 episodes of TNG and Voyager a day (in fact, 'Cause and Effect' is on at this very moment!), I got back into it. And now my goal is to have up to chapter 16 finished by the end of the summer. I have plans for everything up to 16 so it's not going to be too impossible. This is definately not my best chapter but it (and the next chapter, WARNING) is pretty much filler.

Oh, and yes, if you're wondering, that is real Romulan. I've been studying it on and off for the past 8 months or so - getting books from the library and learning about the grammatical structure, phonetics and pronounciation (let's just say I am really, really a lot better at writing it than I am at speaking it) - and it means what it says. The word 'fvai (the 'd' is plural for living nouns) varies in meaning from book to book - but none of the meanings are very flattering. And yes, I am a huuuuuuge nerd.

Another little stupid but awesome bit - the security ensign who takes over from Worf on the bridge is a throw to Nemesis, where none other than Bryan Singer takes over. I just watched Nemesis and love Bryan Singer so said "eh, why not?". :) Subtle and I doubt any of you would have gotten it but I still loved it. Hehe.

I also wanna say thank you to my new lovely beta Le'letha :) she caught some mistakes my old beta wouldn't have dreamed of catching cause they're no ST fan. So yeah. Thanks, Le'letha :)

That's it for now, I think. I'm also going to be putting 'Do No Harm' up in small bits starting soon, so if you want to, check that out too! I heart you all,

TheNthDegree


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